Destined Dynasty
by ZuttoAragi
Summary: Naruto is orphaned after the death of his parents after the attack by the Nine-Tailed Fox. However, his life gets very strange after the orphanage kicks him out thanks to a special set of senseis, and a few new friends along with certain skills he never expected.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

**Hello readers! Yes, it's yet another new story. But don't worry, this is just something that popped into my head randomly after doing so many chapters of Wagtail Shinobi. Basically, this is a "what-if" story if I had taken most of the story and plot elements from the Naruto side of Wagtail Shinobi's (WS for short) plot and removed the Sekirei aspect. Not sure how far I will go with this, I could go all the way or just leave it at this chapter. If you're expecting a 100% new story you'll be disappointed as the majority of the story will be the same as WS without the Sekirei being involved, which does mean there are changes along the way but some that happen later won't change. In addition, instead of starting this story en medias res like WS, I'm starting it from the very beginning, Kurama's attack on the village. Or directly after anyway. So the story will take place before WS for a while, should I continue it. I haven't left it completely unaltered though. There are some new elements, which will be very obvious in this first chapter. I imagine some of you won't mind them and some of you will hate them. I'm also certain I'll get the usual complaints of the story using ideas that have already been used. Well think of this as my dream Naruto story, taking ideas and plot changes from other stories and combining them into what would be my ultimate Naruto story, so this is purely a selfish endeavor. I would love your guys' feedback of course, specifically of whether you would like to see more of it or not. I mainly wanted to get this first chapter out so the idea stopped bugging my mind. And, if some of my comments in other stories haven't made it obvious, this will involve NaruHina, but it will also be NaruHarem. Though not nearly as large as WS. I'd say I'm expecting it to be about five people at most, again, if I continue it. Anyway, I'm just going to put this out there and see what you guys think.**

**UPDATE: A few reviewers got me thinking about something. I have posted a poll on my profile about who Anko should be paired up with. I'd like to see your guys' opinions on the matter.**

* * *

On the edges of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, three figures, two adults, one child, lay in a clearing in what used to be a forest.

One was a man with spiky, dark blonde hair and blue eyes who was wearing a Leaf village Jonin uniform, black shirt and pants, dark green flak jacket, bands around his forearms and a white, short-sleeved jacket with red flames on the bottom and sleeves, text on the back reading "Fourth Hokage" going down the middle.

The other adult was a young woman with fair skin, violet eyes and long, fiery red hair with strands framing both sides of her face and a black clip that parted it to the left and was wearing a high-collared, white, sleeveless blouse under a loose-fitting green dress.

Between them lay a baby wrapped in a blanket with spiky, bright blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes and three whisker-marks down the sides of his face.

However, this was not the scene of a happy family. The two adults were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, their son, Naruto Uzumaki, between them. They had just finished a fierce battle with an unknown man and the Nine-Tailed Fox, it having pierced them both through the abdomen, sentencing them to death. Minato had managed to defeat the beast, by sealing half of it inside himself, and the other half inside Naruto, despite both he and Kushina knowing the pain this would cause Naruto as he grew. However, they also knew they would not be there to help him.

The two of them lay on the ground, Naruto's blanket soaking up the blood from their bodies, Kushina wishing she could help their son, Minato doing the same. Although, one last thought entered his mind before he finally entered the afterlife. '_Sorry…Dad._'

* * *

Naruto had in fact been sentenced to a hard life. Without his parents he was forced into an orphanage where the adults knew about his secret, about the Nine-Tails being stuck inside of his body. To the young child's fear and confusion, the people treated him as though he were the beast itself, forcing him into a solitary room often designated for punishment only, on the slightest provocation, sometimes because they could. They only provided him with the basics enough that the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had retaken the mantle after Minato's death despite his advanced age, would not be able to prove in a court that Naruto was being abused. The old man knew he was, but due to old age and the amount of sway and power the council, which was composed of clan heads and certain civilians elected to the position, had, he was relatively useless in helping the boy. The most he could do were his usual, and often fruitless, threats of what should occur should Naruto come to any harm while under their care.

Naruto himself was just scared. He did not know why the grownups wouldn't feed him or often called him a monster. He didn't know why they kept him from the other kids or always locked him in the dark room. The only thing he did know is he felt alone.

* * *

A feeling that was only intensified at the age of four. In the Leaf-run orphanage, the caretakers were only required by law to care for children up to the age of four. They were supposedly supposed to be adopted by that age, and for most children, that wasn't a problem. However, to the caretakers, Naruto was certainly not just any child. He was a demon, and he would kill them and the other kids the moment he got the chance. So, they abandoned him to the curb. And due to rising tensions with other nations, most specifically the Land of Earth and their Hidden Stone Village, Hiruzen had lost the time to go out and visit the orphanage, and the few times he did, he was just told Naruto was in the detention room for bad behavior. He did not have proper evidence to demand proof otherwise and simply hoped the child was alive.

* * *

Which he was, and continued to be. Naruto was confused, sad and scared all in one that the orphanage had kicked him out like it did. He didn't know why the people hated and glared at him like they did, and they still called him a monster, and he didn't know why. However, he did learn a few things after leaving.

* * *

Naruto spent most of his time after being kicked out just trying to find some form of shelter and sustenance. A cardboard box under a streetlamp, a few old scraps of food in a waste basket. These things were his analogues for shelter and food. He found acquiring even these base items was a mile-high task. The few times he was able to find a few moldy bits of food or a sopping box in the rain, the ex-owners of said objects would immediately force him to leave, shouting "Monster!" as they did.

To Naruto's minute pleasure, that was the worst he ever received, angry or cold stares, ignoring the fact he exists or dispassionate loathing. That all changed, however, on the day he had come to learn was his birthday, October Tenth.

He did not know why, but on that day, whatever inhibitions held the people back from trying to inflict physical harm onto him broke, and he found himself running mad through the streets of the village, simply hoping to make his way to safety, a safety which had never shown itself, until he found a small stand in the middle of the village. He couldn't read and thus didn't know what it said, but it smelled good and so he could only stop momentarily to enjoy it, until he noticed a pair of familiar legs on one of the stools, the Hokage. He acquired a mildly hopeful expression when he saw this.

He bolted for the stand and clamored up one of the seats.

* * *

Hiruzen was at his favorite ramen stand, owned by Teuchi Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame. He was busily slurping up the ramen in his dish, trying to decipher what the ruckus all over the city was, when he noticed something, or someone, attempting to climb the stool. To his shock, confusion and dismay, it was Naruto.

He somehow looked even smaller than he had almost a year ago when he last saw the boy, shriveled and malnourished.

The boy looked up at the old man with pleading eyes. "Please Gramps! Help!"

Hiruzen didn't know what the problem was but had learned that Naruto wasn't one to shout like that unless he was truly in trouble. Putting on his best façade of calmness, despite how his insides were churning with fear and anger, he nodded with a light smile and patted the seat next to him then signaled Teuchi.

An older man with grey hair and wearing the uniform of a ramen chef stepped out, a young girl next to him. "So, want seconds Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "No. Actually I want a bowl for my friend here."

Teuchi glanced at Naruto in recognition.

Naruto bent down and tried to curl up as small as he could, expecting the usual angry glares or mean words.

Instead, Teuchi just smiled and answered, "So what'll it be?"

Naruto was so caught off guard by the kindness he had no idea what to say, simply sitting there with a confused, dead-eyed stare.

That few seconds in and of itself gave Hiruzen an idea of what was happening, and he wasn't happy about it. After Naruto spent a couple more seconds dumbfounded, Hiruzen just chuckled and ordered for him. "Miso ramen with grilled pork and fishcakes."

Teuchi nodded with a smile and turned around to prepare the dish.

Hiruzen turned back to Naruto and asked, "So, what is it you needed Naruto?"

Naruto didn't respond for a moment but then broke out of his shock and turned to the old man in confusion. "Uhm…what?"

Hiruzen frowned and then pressed. "I asked what it is you needed."

Naruto nodded and attempted to find the words to speak. "Well…I'm…I'm being chased."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "By who?"

Naruto made a frantic motion. "I don't know! They just started chasing me, trying to hurt me! I…I…I'm…so scared…I don't have anywhere to hide…and…and…" Naruto's voice began to fall as his words turned to tears.

Hiruzen sighed heavily, in both frustration and solemnity. He reached over and lightly rubbed his hand over Naruto's head, noting the heavy flinch when he did so. He smiled warmly at the boy. "It's alright Naruto. I can help you. Unfortunately I can't do a lot. But, tell me what your troubles are."

Naruto began to speak when Teuchi approached.

"Here ya go! One order of miso ramen ready to go!" He placed the dish down in front of Naruto.

The boy studied it suspiciously and fearfully. Despite all of the anger he had received, a few people had been nice to him. Unfortunately those people had all been liars, who had tried to kill or poison Naruto. So he was intimately familiar with dangerous food.

After watching Naruto sit for several seconds, Hiruzen chuckled and handed him a set of chopsticks. "Don't worry Naruto, Teuchi would never hurt you."

Naruto looked to the old man curiously then to Teuchi.

Teuchi just smiled happily. "After all, I wouldn't do well to turn away a customer. I don't care who you are. If you have an empty stomach or ryo, I'll give you ramen."

Naruto's eyes suddenly began to widen before tears began to collect on the edges.

Hiruzen gripped his chopsticks tightly, attempting to not let Naruto see his anger, knowing children often find ways to blame themselves for problems.

Teuchi just chuckled. "Come on now, quit cryin' and eat. The food'll get cold."

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes and clumsily used his chopsticks to get a portion of the noodles out. After slurping down the bite he froze and his eyes widened. He then smiled a mile-wide grin at Teuchi. "This stuff's great mister!" He then slapped a worried hand over his mouth.

"Don't worry Naruto, you've got nothing to worry about, so just eat," Hiruzen reassured him.

Naruto nodded tentatively and began to scarf down the noodles.

* * *

It was very slow for Naruto to eat, partly due to him not being dexterous enough to use the chopsticks well enough to eat quickly, and partly due to his guard never being let down while he ate.

Hiruzen sighed yet again. Children shouldn't feel so guarded while they ate, or did anything.

After finishing his meal Naruto looked up at Teuchi weakly. "I…I have nothing to…"

"Nah, don't sweat it!" Teuchi remarked joyously. "All first time customers eat free. Which means, you better order as much as you can possibly eat, because you won't pay for a bit of it."

Naruto's eyes yet again widened.

Needless to say, Hiruzen, Teuchi and Naruto spent a good part of the night merely sitting there as the latter ate. And ate. And ate.

* * *

It was early the next morning, and Teuchi had decided to let Naruto momentarily stay inside his little cottage, while Hiruzen was busy in his office. He was making out special documents and orders for the young boy. Not for him to be followed, but to be followed about him.

Naruto had told Hiruzen what people had said and done to him, calling him a monster, stopping just short of attacking him, chasing him all that night. So, he came up with a two-part solution to the problem. The first part was direct. Naruto was to be provided a home to stay in, some form of shedding, apartment or house. Second, Naruto was to be guarded. He would have a guard in the shadows around him at all times. Composed of ANBU. That way, whenever things did go too far. There were skilled ninja at the ready to deal with the situation properly.

* * *

Unfortunately, getting these mandates into practice was proving harder than the old Hokage had expected. Partly because of the entire council. But also because of his direct "advisors." He used that term loosely because Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane and Danzo Shimura made up his direct advisory board, all three of them combined having almost as much influence as he did within the village's laws. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he wasn't ever sure with his scarred ex-teammate, Danzo hadn't opposed Hiruzen's ideas. And it wasn't until after agreeing that Hiruzen stipulated that he, and he alone, would elect the ANBU to guard Naruto.

The Third Hokage, also once known as the Legendary Professor, was able to tell by the conniving man's reactions that he was not so approving of that part. Although having agreed to it Danzo could do little else after that.

* * *

Hiruzen had managed to get both mandates passed by a slight majority vote, again partly thanks to someone he hadn't expected. Although not in the perfect ways he had imagined.

Naruto had been given a small dingy apartment in the Leaf's red-light district. The lowest income, and lowest safety rated section of the village. The apartment itself was nothing spectacular, and, had it been a normal tenant, they would have refused immediately.

Though, to Hiruzen's surprise and dismay, Naruto seemed overjoyed at the new steading. The fact that a rundown apartment with peeling paint, no furniture and no hot water was a step up enough for Naruto worth celebration, was sickening to the old man.

As to the second part of the mandate, Hiruzen had managed to get the choice of ANBU left up to his own decision, but was forced to leave the scheduling of said guard to the council. The ones Hiruzen trusted most with the task, Weasel, Crow and Cat M, were given an almost insignificant amount of time to watch over Naruto. Weasel and Cat M were actually forced to restrain Crow when he nearly lost upon hearing of the new mandates.

Though Hiruzen had managed to talk him down to accepting the mere fact of being able to watch over Naruto, regardless of how scant.

* * *

Naruto had found great pleasure in his new home. While it was true it had only two shoddy chairs and a wide tray for dining, a small pallet with a ratty blanket and no pillow, peeling wallpaper, barely functioning appliances and a shower and sink that spewed out cold, dingy water, to Naruto, it was a place he could finally call home. He had been given a key thanks to Hiruzen and was even told he would receive a stipend, small monthly payments, to help him live off of. The old man had also told him that this money would continue until he either turned eighteen or until he became a ninja.

The powerful hug Naruto offered in return for these few services, though he did not tell Naruto of his guard, gave Hiruzen just as much pleasure as it did pain. He had decided to focus on the happiness instead.

* * *

After receiving his first payment, Naruto's first course of action was to try and acquire clothing.

He found, however, that would be just as hard as always. The first payment he had received was stolen by several adults, until a man with a crow mask and gravity-defying hair beat the adult senseless and returned Naruto's money to him. Even then it got harder.

Most of the shops in town kicked him out, some literally doing so. And those that didn't would either sell him only the worst products they had to offer, extreme markups or sometimes both. Naruto had managed to buy a few outfits, expensive as they may have been. These included an orange hoodie with short blue sleeves, a white shirt with an orange flame symbol on it, a black shirt with the same symbol on it and a navy-blue shirt with a swirl pattern on it along with several pairs of shorts, green, blue and grey. He didn't know why but the navy blue shirt was his favorite.

Finding food was also another issue since he couldn't find any food he could afford that wasn't rotten. He had managed to find a few pieces of mostly edible food that had extreme markups. He had also attempted to buy some furniture but most of it cost him an entire month's payment, so he kept what furniture he had and returned to his house.

Naruto found very little reason to leave his apartment most days, and for good reason. None of the other children could or would play with him, aside from a boy with a pineapple on his head and one who was fat, and nearly killed Naruto for saying so.

* * *

Aside from venturing outside once in a while, Naruto rarely left his house, mainly because his life was endanger every time he did.

However, that all changed the day of his sixth birthday.

* * *

Five, soon to be six, year old Naruto wandered through the dimly lit morning streets of the Leaf's red-light district.

Running through the empty streets, the only time when he could due to the citizens, he made his way towards a small restaurant.

As he approached the front door, he looked inside.

Grinning he said, "Cool, no one's home."

Rather than attempt to break in, Naruto made his way around back.

* * *

Looking around he sought out his target. Upon discovering it he said, "Jackpot!"

His target…a large, dirty, old food filled trash can.

With his small body he moved over to the can and attempted to ascend it. After a series of unsuccessful hops he finally managed to grab ahold of the can's handle. "Yes!" he said proudly as he attempted to pull himself up. Sadly his strength was very little, so the only result he achieved was the can tipping and rocking before falling over with a loud crash.

"Shit!" he cursed as he began collecting what scraps he could.

The alley becoming filled with light confirmed his worst fear.

Standing at the back door was the rather plump store owner, bat in hand and a scowl on his face.

* * *

Naruto slumped to the ground in a mess as the man walked away. "Damned demon, that'll teach you."

Naruto sat for several seconds before looking around and releasing a heavy and pained sigh. "Gotta go home. They'll be out in force today."

Standing on shaky legs and clumsily he made his way home. "Why? Why are they always hitting me? What did I ever do to them?"

Unbeknownst to him, a shadow watched from the rooftop, following his every move.

* * *

Naruto eventually made his way home and closed and locked the door. He then sighed. "Well, I should at least be safe now."

A loud grumble caused him to frown. "Stupid trash can. Why did it have to go and fall over like that?"

Flopping himself on his bed, he curled up and looked up into the sky. '_Well, all I need to do is wait here until morning. Then they'll all go back to normal._' Assuring himself of that fact he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

He was awakened sharply by loud banging at his door. He turned slowly as his drowsiness wore off and he registered what was happening.

The door shook as the angry fists of the people outside slammed into it. They all shouted variations on the same idea.

"Come out demon!"

"Get your ass out here you demon brat!"

"Come on trash! We need to throw you out like the rest!"

Naruto curled himself up in a vain hope of defense. "Why? I thought I was safe in here."

The banging continued.

"They never bothered me before."

The wall began to creak as the door was hit further.

"Why won't they just go away?" Naruto's small voice asked to no one as a tear rolled down his face. His eyes shot wide and he straightened up as the door slammed open, the angry and drunk faces of the people pouring in.

Naruto acted quickly the only way he knew how. He opened the window and jumped out.

Hands reached and clawed out the window as he hit the fire escape and ran down the stairs quickly descending them.

"The demon's on the streets!"

"Let's go after him!"

The group clumsily made their way out the door, making sure to leave a path of destruction in their wake.

* * *

Naruto ran down the village roads, desperately trying to escape the pursuing mob.

He turned back and shrieked, the group had grown larger since he started running.

Desperate, he turned and ran down an alleyway that was nearby.

* * *

His breath hitched as he saw its end, a large stone wall that he had neither the strength nor skill to overcome.

He turned slowly and fearfully as he saw the pursuing mob of villagers and shinobi, most panting and some smirking. Two chunin stepped forward. They each had jet black hair and matching eyes with a red and white fan on their shoulders.

One of them grabbed Naruto by the arm and hoisted him up, the boy squirming and shrieking in fear and desperation.

The hardened bodies of the ninja were unphased by the weak flailing of his limbs.

The free-handed ninja turned with a smirk. "We've got this. You guys can get back to drinking, we'll slay the demon."

The mob smirked and nodded, then dispersed.

The man holding Naruto turned his head towards him and his eyes converted to red irises with three tomoe in each. "Sleep you little shit."

Naruto's eyes widened in fear, but then his body instantly became limp.

The man not holding Naruto chuckled. "Let's make sure to wake him before we kill him. Wouldn't want him to miss it." Just to add further insult to injury the man knocked Naruto in the stomach, the unconscious boy merely coughed up blood rather than food; his stomach having none.

* * *

As the two men walked away, a shadowed figure watched from above. Its fist clenched as it vanished in a burst of smoke.

* * *

The two men arrived at a small cottage on the western edge of the village, just outside the walls.

One strapped the unconscious boy to the table, securing the ropes around his wrists and ankles tightly.

The other smirked proudly. "Nice work. Wake him up, we may have done some damage already but we wouldn't want him to miss the best part."

The man that had held Naruto nodded and placed two fingers on Naruto's forehead and said, "Release!"

Naruto clenched his eyes before slowly opening them.

He looked around drowsily as he took in his surroundings. The night's events combined with the numbness in his hands and feet snapped him to and looked around, eventually seeing the two shinobi who had made off with him, smirking proudly.

"AAAAHHH!" Naruto screamed in fear as he writhed to break free.

The two men merely began to chuckle as he struggled. One then said, "Oh stop, it's pointless to resist; with how pathetically weak you are you're not going anywhere."

The words hitting Naruto he immediately froze, and then slowly turned his attention to the two men, tears streaming down his face as he begged with a weak voice, "Please. Let me go. Why are you doing this?"

One of the men punched him in the stomach angrily. "Don't play dumb you damned demon. You know exactly why. You killed out friends, you killed my brother. Plus, thanks to you my whole clan's in a pile of shit. Now we're going to repay you, by killing you."

"What? I haven't killed anyone, I don't know what you're talking about."

One of the chunin stepped forward, ignoring Naruto as he pulled out a kunai.

* * *

Naruto wasn't certain how much time had passed, but he knew it felt like an eternity. The men using everything from weapons like kunai and shuriken to different jutsu to injure him. His body managed to heal swiftly from each injury though. At this time, that wasn't a bonus, it merely gave the men more space to hurt. Although they noticed each time the injuries healed less and less, which must have meant they were getting close.

"That's enough," a calm voice soon said behind the two.

The men stopped their near endless torture and turned in surprise.

They saw an ANBU standing in the doorway. He wore a black, high collared, short-sleeved shirt with pale purple gauntlets that strapped on his forearms with black cloth underneath, black pants that were wrapped at the bottom with bandages leading into his sandals. He also had long black hair tied into a ponytail with two bangs on the side of his face, a chokuto with a handle wrapped in fabric on his back and a porcelain mask fashioned after a weasel with a triangular marking on top.

"Shit, ANBU!"

The ANBU walked in with a calm, but frustrated air. "You will release the boy now, and leave. Otherwise I will kill the both of you."

One of the men raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You? What're you doing here and why are you protecting this demon?"

The ANBU reached up to his sword. "You are mistaken. You are confusing that defenseless child with the fox. I will only say this once more. Leave and you will live."

The man glared and shouted as he charged. "Screw you!"

The ANBU reacted in a flash, drawing his sword and swinging in a downward arc, disarming his opponent.

The man reached for another kunai but the ANBU sliced in exactly the opposite angle upwards, slicing open the man's torso and killing him.

The other man widened his eyes and then glared. "Traitor! Wait 'til your father hears about this!" He then charged the ANBU.

A mistake as the ANBU effortlessly spun around the man, reversed his grip on his blade, placed his left hand on the butt of his sword, and stabbed backwards; impaling the man through the abdomen. He withdrew his sword, corrected his grip and flicked off the blood and then sheathed his blade.

The ANBU then turned his head towards Naruto, who sweat cold as the man approached, a kunai drawn.

"NO! STAY AWAY!" Naruto shrieked in terror.

The ANBU raised a finger to his mouth. "Shhh, I'm not going to hurt you."

Naruto blinked in complete confusion, though he did not still his actions, adrenaline and fear still coursing through his body.

The ANBU looked at him from head to toe with a sigh. '_So, they already battered him a bit. His legs are probably useless until the fox heals them._' He looked Naruto in the eyes and then reached out his kunai, causing the boy to widen his own in horror, before cutting the straps that held him.

Naruto sat up slowly, still surprised by the kindness he was being shown. Even if it was little more than ambivalence.

The ANBU looked at Naruto. "Can you walk?"

Naruto looked at his legs and then hopped down to the ground, landing shakily and almost falling over, using the table for support.

The ANBU turned his back to Naruto and knelt down, reaching his hands out behind him.

Naruto looked at the man unsurely. Then conceded and gave a nod before weakly stumbling over to him and flopping onto his back.

The ANBU then stood up and secured Naruto's legs with his arms, frowning under his mask at the hitched breath the boy gave from the pain. "Put your arms on my shoulders, you don't want to fall off."

Naruto nodded and did so.

* * *

The ANBU walked through the forest towards the Leaf Village in the middle of the night for several hours until he returned to the village proper, the sun starting to peak over the horizon.

The man stopped for several seconds before turning and setting the boy down by a tree. Looking around before nodding he turned to leave but felt a tug on his pants leg. He looked down and saw the half-awake Naruto grabbing his leg.

Nodding the ANBU sat down next to him. As he sat there he looked at the weak emaciated form of the blonde. '_This won't do. If he remains like this he is certain to die. He must also carry on his blood. I suppose there's only one choice._' "Tell me something."

Naruto's head shot up and he turned towards the ANBU. "Y-yes?"

"Would you like me to train you in the art of the shinobi?"

Naruto's face was split by a big grin. "Hell yeah!"

The man nodded. "So be it. Then in that case, I am your sensei and you are my student."

Naruto nodded happily. He then raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Uhm, mister."

"Hm?"

"What's your name?"

The ANBU sat silently before reaching for his mask and removing it; revealing not the face of a man but of a young man with onyx eyes, center-parted bangs and pronounced tear-troughs under his eyes. His stoic features shifted into a small smile. "You can call me Itachi-sensei."

Naruto nodded happily. "Right, Itachi-sensei!"

Itachi then looked at Naruto sternly, the boy's eyes still closed from some pain. "Naruto."

He nodded.

"I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?"

"I need you to open your eyes. I'm certain they still ache, but you still need to open them before they heal shut." While that was true, there was another reason Itachi made that command. A reason that was immediately confirmed.

Naruto's now opened eyes revealed a much different appearance. Rather than bright, deep blue, his eyes were now almost crimson red with a single marking in them, a tomoe.

Itachi narrowed his own eyes as he confirmed the thought in his mind. '_Sharingan. So, the musings my father was making about _his_ legacy were true. I suppose then, Naruto must truly carry it on._' Itachi smiled at Naruto. "There. That feels better, does it not?"

Naruto squinted his eyes somewhat, unconsciously deactivating his immature Sharingan, and nodded weakly. "Yeah…but my eyes really hurt, and everything looks blue."

Itachi nodded as he stood. "That's merely a side-effect of having such trauma," he lied smoothly. "For now you should be out of danger. Return to your home. I will summon you for your training soon."

Naruto beamed before running off.

Itachi sighed, he knew there was an uphill battle ahead. However, he had a reason to fight it, several.

* * *

Hiruzen was busy with his usual paperwork in the morning when a familiar face popped into his room in a burst of smoke.

Itachi gave Hiruzen a stern look. Sterner than normal at least.

Hiruzen got the meaning instantly and waved his hand, the ANBU in the room appearing from the shadows and then disappearing in bursts of smoke. Hiruzen pulled out his smoke pipe, knowing what would come, but feigned ignorance for the sake of information. "So, what brings you to my office so early in the morning, Itachi?"

Itachi nodded and stepped forward. "I have information you may be interested in."

"Such as your new, would-be student?"

Itachi tensed. "I see you are already aware."

"Quite. Tell me, how exactly did you plan to handle this? You may not be ANBU captain but you are still vital to the village. You are also one of the more requested shinobi for messy missions. That would mean you would be cutting into our village's defenses and contracts by doing so. Many of these requests asking for you by name."

"I understand. But I have information that may sway your opinion, if you will permit a small genjutsu."

Hiruzen raised a curious eyebrow but nodded as Itachi activated his Sharingan, a fully matured version with three tomoe, and used a genjutsu to show Hiruzen a few images from the last few hours. Several specifically, his fellow clan members brutally attacking Naruto, and Naruto himself, with his Sharingan unintentionally.

Hiruzen's breath hitched when he saw this, before he let it out and held his head in his hands with an intensely heavy sigh. "Haaahhh…this is going to be quite troublesome. So, I assume you are suggesting that you are the most qualified to train him because of his Sharingan."

Itachi merely nodded.

Hiruzen held his head in one hand with a frustrated look. "Very well. Kakashi only has experience with a single eye and would not have enough distance to train Naruto properly, and I am certain anyone besides you or Shisui would kill Naruto. In this case, it is a special exception. Naruto, being both the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki _and_ a Sharingan bearer, is far too important to allow him to be capture or killed by anyone. While I cannot say I have the slightest idea how it is he has the Sharingan, I can say you would be the most qualified to teach him given the circumstances. Understand this does not mean you can slack on your duties."

"I understand wholly Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen just dropped his shoulders with a defeated sigh. "Good…now leave me. I need time to bang my head into my desk until this starts making sense."

Itachi wasted no time teleporting out of the room.

Hiruzen sighed again and then slumped forward, his head slamming against his desk with an almost constipated expression. "I'm getting too old for this crap."

* * *

Naruto lay silently in his "bed" sleeping when he heard a muffled knocking on the window. The sound itself jolted him awake. He turned wearily towards the window, expecting to see an intruder and instead saw a simple piece of paper sticking through the middle.

He blinked in confusion and reached up to grab the piece of folded paper, on it being written, "Training Ground Six."

Again he blinked in confusion before realizing it was left by Itachi. He grinned and stuffed he piece of paper in his pocket, threw on his orange and blue hoodie, green shorts, and then left out the door, locking it before making his way to the training ground.

* * *

Naruto arrived at training ground six fast enough, but stopped dead when he saw Itachi merely standing in the center, his back to the entrance. He gulped heavily before looking around carefully. Young as he was, Naruto was no fool. Feigned kindness had tricked him many times before, the shock and suddenness of the situation preventing him from having been more cautious. He spent several seconds trying to find the signs of traps. But then sighed when he decided there either weren't any or he couldn't just find them, Itachi was an ANBU after all.

* * *

Itachi meanwhile, stood in the center of the field, not at all oblivious to Naruto's presence. He had expected Naruto to bolt straight into the training ground and that he would then need to scold him. He was both pleasantly surprised and slightly worried about Naruto's extreme caution. He pushed those thoughts from his mind as he activated his Sharingan and brought up a mirror, observing Naruto's actions in its reflection. Again, he was surprised by the amount of time Naruto took to examine the area for traps. The only trap Itachi had laid was a tripwire that would launch paintballs at the blonde. Itachi felt Naruto was off to a good start when he caught the trap instantly and threw a stick at it to disarm it before he walked through the area.

After a few more moments, Naruto approached the ANBU-turned sensei.

Itachi glanced behind him, as if he was unaware of Naruto's presence, and remarked plainly. "So you've arrived."

Naruto nodded with a small smile. "Yup. So…are we going to begin now?"

Itachi shook his head. "Not quite. There are a few matters I wish to get a hold on, most of them testing your ideas or knowledge."

Naruto nodded and plopped down seiza style.

Itachi also nodded and asked his first question. "What do shinobi do?"

"They kill and steal."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the oddly realistic answer. "Good. What is a shinobi's main way to fight?"

"Ninjutsu."

Itachi nodded. "You are close. The best answer is chakra. The fuel behind ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu."

Naruto nodded in recognition.

"Do you know what charka is?"

"Catra?"

Itachi sighed. "This is going to take longer than I thought?"

"What?"

"Nothing." Itachi sighed and began to explain chakra. "Chakra is the energy that flows through the body of every living thing. It is also the source of energy for the different techniques used by ninja. It is not a standalone entity however. It is composed of two other forms of energy, physical energy, ki. The energy used to power, move and feed the body. It is the energy that is used in your body's metabolic processes." Itachi paused to look at Naruto curiously. While his expression showed he wasn't understanding of everything, Naruto was grasping the overall concepts which Itachi could expand on later. Nodding to himself he continued. "The other is spiritual energy, mana. This is the energy that supposedly makes up your soul and your mind. When these two forms of energy, ki and mana, combine, they form chakra. Now, before we go further, you will need to find your chakra."

Naruto blinked. "How?"

"You are close already. Sitting as you are, close your eyes and imagine the chakra network in your mind."

"Chakra…what?"

"Haah, chakra network. It is a network that runs through your body transporting chakra to all parts of your body, it is intertwined with each and every part of your body, down to the individual cells. While there is no defined shape for it, it can be best visualized as starting in the center of your abdomen, before spiraling out, then expanding outward into vessels that reach the furthest parts of your body, head, fingers, toes and everything in between, before circling back to the spiral and moving back to the center where everything starts over. Close your eyes and imagine that network in your mind as it fills and flows through your body."

Naruto was slightly overcome by the information but did as he was told, closing his eyes and imagine the chakra network flowing through his body.

Itachi activated his Sharingan and watched as Naruto did the act.

Naruto sat for several seconds before he was suddenly overcome by a sensation of being warm, light and full of energy.

"I see you've found it," Itachi said simply. "Now, let the feeling subside."

Naruto quietly did so, feeling the heat and energy dissipate to the point where he felt normal again.

"Do it again."

"Ack! What?!" Naruto was confused.

"You will do it again. Before I begin training you in anything else you will learn to access your chakra to the point where it requires no concentration at all. I will continue to hone that until you can do so without any thought in a strenuous situation."

"Aaahhh…"

Itachi narrowed his eyes.

Naruto curled back in fear and nodded hurriedly, performing the act again.

* * *

Naruto and Itachi sat in the field for several hours as Naruto continuously accessed his chakra, then let it die down until he could no longer feel it, and then pulled it out again.

They continued this until the sun was high in the sky, noon.

"That's enough."

Naruto sighed as he released his chakra again. "I think I'm getting better."

Itachi nodded and moved over to grab a small basket of food he had brought with him. "You are. But it is unwise to think of yourself as a great shinobi, otherwise you are likely to make more mistakes than normal."

Naruto ignored every word he said as he stood over the basket drooling.

Itachi could've sworn that had Naruto had a tail, it would be wagging. He patted the spot next to him and he and Naruto ate their meal for the day.

* * *

After finishing they resumed their training, Naruto continuing to access his chakra for a few more hours.

Itachi put up a hand slightly. "That's enough, you have improved enough to move on."

Naruto grinned happily.

"I'll start with the basics of chakra control."

"Chakra control?"

"Yes. It's as simple as it sounds. It means to manipulate the flow of chakra in your body for your own purposes. There are advanced skills for chakra control but for now we will focus on the basics." Sitting down in seiza himself, he began to explain how to train chakra control. "The easiest method is through meditation."

Naruto looked at him annoyed. "Isn't that just a lot of sitting around doing nothing?"

"It is. But it's important."

Naruto studied Itachi's face, finding no sense of lies, and sighed heavily. "Fine."

Itachi cupped his hands, then brought them close together, fingertips not quite touching. "Put your hands like this, then imagine the chakra flowing through your body and out holes in your fingers and into the space between your fingers, collecting into a ball in the center."

Naruto raised an eyebrow but shrugged and did so, closing his eyes for further concentration.

Itachi activated his Sharingan and watched as Naruto's chakra flowed from his fingertips, and then just flowed out in a mess, not even trying to coalesce in the center. '_The fact that he is able to move that much chakra at once is a good sign._' "Tighten the ball, imagine it forming into a smaller space."

Naruto nodded weakly and clenched his eyes as he imagined the chakra collecting into a slightly smaller space than before.

Itachi watched as the chakra slowly began to change directions. It began to flow in a more inward facing pattern rather than just flush outwards into the abyss. Still none of it was collecting between Naruto's hands, it was merely going a little further in the right direction. Itachi thought that was a great state of affairs for Naruto's very first day. He deactivated his Sharingan and stood up. "That's enough for today."

Naruto sighed as he released his concentration on his chakra. "That was tough, and I barely moved."

Itachi nodded. "Even meditation can be strenuous. Now return to your house and eat a good meal."

Naruto frowned at that command. "I can't buy good food though, they won't let me."

Itachi nodded as he said that. "For now just return home, I will help you with food."

Naruto nodded unsurely and ran back to his house.

Itachi sighed and then raised a half hand sign. "Teleportation Jutsu." He vanished in a burst of smoke.

* * *

The next day Naruto awoke excitedly and went over to his door and opened it. He shrieked at the imposing shadow in his doorway before realizing it was Itachi. "O-oh…s…sensei…"

Itachi handed him a bag.

Naruto blinked and took the bag, putting it on the floor where there should be a table.

Itachi looked around the room and noticed the dreadful conditions. '_I wouldn't want a rat living here._'

Naruto examined the contents of the bag happily, seeing that it was filled with good selections of vegetables and meats for meals. "So, how do I cook this stuff?"

Itachi nodded and pointed to the stove. That's part of today's lesson.

"Woow…you can cook?"

Itachi nodded plainly. "My mother refused to let me go into the ANBU without learning how to cook."

Naruto nodded and Itachi then began to show him how to prepare basic meals. Skillet cooked beef in olive oil, mixed vegetables with store bought seasoning. Naruto ate the simple breakfast with glee, happy at eating something that wasn't rotten or past expiration.

Itachi then investigated the fridge and noticed the food that was in there. Very little, most of it barely edible and the fridge itself not very powerful. He sighed heavily and turned to Naruto as he ate his meal. "After you're finished with that we will go to the training grounds. Unfortunately Team Six has returned from their mission, but there is currently no active Team Seven, so we are able to use that training area."

Naruto nodded as he ate his food. "Founf foob. PHHHOOOGGGHHH!" Naruto spat as Itachi wacked him in the back of the neck.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth."

Naruto hacked for a few seconds before turning to him angrily. He then sighed. "Fine, sensei."

Itachi nodded and then waited for Naruto to finish, continuing to look at the conditions of his house. Narrowing his eyes he began formulating ideas.

* * *

Itachi and Naruto arrived in Training Ground Seven early in the morning. Naruto looked around amazed, it was much more diverse than Training Ground Six. It had a forest on one side, a field covering the other half along with a grassless spot and a wide river running down the middle through both the plain and forest sections.

Itachi motioned Naruto forward as he turned to him. "Did you do any of the training I suggested last night?"

Naruto froze and sweat-dropped. "Eheheh…"

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "I see. Then I suppose we'll begin where we left off. Return to seiza and continue meditating. We're going to switch to a scheduled day so we will only do each activity for a certain amount of time. We'll move on to the next afterwards regardless of your progress. The first item is chakra control."

Naruto sighed and nodded, sitting down on the ground and returning to his meditative pose.

Itachi activated his Sharingan and watched as Naruto began his meditations, his chakra taking a short time to begin flowing. Again, the chakra was merely flowing in the right direction, none of it was collecting in the center. "Tighten the size."

Naruto nodded and pictured an even smaller ball of chakra in his hand.

Itachi watched as the chakra between Naruto's hands began to have small sections that separated from the rest and began to swirl loosely in his hands. This continued as more and more amounts of chakra did so, still forming a loose ball of chakra in between his hands. His control improving greatly.

* * *

After an hour of training Itachi signaled Naruto to move on to the next item, which turned out to be taijutsu. To start things off, Itachi began with the academy's basic taijutsu style.

It took some time to get Naruto into the proper stances for the style, Itachi often having to personally adjust Naruto's posture. But once he succeeded at that he began showing Naruto the basic punches and kicks from the style.

Naruto took most of that session of training to get the moves correct but he managed to do it by the end as Itachi showed him how to string several of the moves together into a sequence.

* * *

Next was strength training, something Naruto desperately needed due to his small frame. Naruto was started with push up, sit ups and chin ups. To Itachi's amusement, Naruto had elected to use Itachi's arm as the chin up bar. He found it quite amusing to watch the young boy lift himself up on his forearm. Though he found it less amusing when said boy lost his grip and hit the ground with a thud. Again, they continued doing so for about an hour.

* * *

After that was kunai and shuriken training, using ringed targets. Naruto did as poorly as Itachi expected. Mainly not having the strength to throw the kunai far enough to reach the target. The few that did reach the targets didn't have enough force to stick and just bounced off.

* * *

Then was ninjutsu. Although Itachi couldn't start off with any actual ninjutsu. Instead he began by showing Naruto all of the basic hand signs, saru, tatsu, ne, tori, mi, ushi, inu, uma, tora, i, hitsuji and u. As expected for a novice, Naruto had trouble remembering all of the signs, how to form them and which was which.

By the end of that hour's training, Naruto did seem to moderately understand the basics of hand signs.

* * *

The next few hours were focused on something more basic, and something Naruto found deathly boring. Basic schooling. Reading, writing, math, history. The last three hours of their training was spent with Itachi teaching all of the very basics to Naruto.

It was also spent with Naruto preventing himself from working in any way possible. When Itachi showed Naruto a genjutsu of a giant snake that would eat him if he didn't follow his rules, Naruto didn't display another argument.

* * *

After finishing up for the day, Itachi gave Naruto a backpack and several books detailing the basics of all the things he had taught him that day so he could practice on his own.

* * *

And this is how it remained for several weeks. Naruto doing his daily training with Itachi and increasing in skill and ability. It was a slow going process as Naruto, along with every other child in the world, was not completely willing to learn the less exciting items, but as Itachi began to explain the importance of those subjects Naruto began to argue less and less in their training.

* * *

They eventually fell into a comfortable pattern for this training, Naruto having to either take the day off or train by himself during the periods that Itachi had to go on missions.

Fortunately for the situation, and beyond Naruto's knowledge, most of the missions Itachi was given were normally assassination missions. Those types rarely exceeded a length of a few days unless they were hunting an elusive target. Most of the time they weren't.

* * *

This happy schedule was disrupted when one day Naruto was by himself while Itachi was on a mission.

Naruto's room had been furnished with Itachi's help. He now had a small, four-person dining table with wooden chairs, a small twin bed with basic sheets and a blanket and an acceptable stockpile of food. Naruto had paid for it all with his stipend but Itachi had been the one to purchase it all.

Along with those new furnishings was a mirror in his bathroom.

Naruto stood in front of it holding a book in his hands. "So…if I condense chakra in my eyes I can see better." Grinning he concentrated as he tried condensing chakra in his eyes. His vision did improve, but something else also happened. His fledgling Sharingan activated. Upon seeing the sudden and extreme change in his eyes, Naruto fell backwards onto the floor behind him. He sat on the floor in shock for several seconds before getting the fortitude to stand back up and look in the mirror. He was agape. He was actually staring at a pair of Sharingan in his own eyes, the same as Itachi-sensei. He couldn't decide if he should be overjoyed, frightened, sad, or confused. He settled on confused and tried to deactivate it by pulling the chakra from his eyes. Unfortunately for the blonde he pulled too much and spent several minutes stumbling around blind as he attempted to return charka flow to his eyes, he eventually managed to do so and calmed down.

He then settled down for a meal and ate quietly.

* * *

The next day Itachi returned from his mission and found Naruto waiting in Training Ground Seven, far earlier than normal. Seeing this for as odd as it was, along with seeing the puzzled and dismayed look on his student's face, Itachi approached with caution.

Naruto sat huddled up against a tree, holding his legs to his body waiting for Itachi to show up.

"You're early."

Naruto perked up and looked at Itachi with a worried expression.

Itachi noted this but decided that if Naruto wanted to talk he would and began to set the instructions for the day.

"Sensei," Naruto interrupted.

'_So he wants to talk now._' "Yes?"

"Am I…a freak?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were beginning to ignore the villagers."

Naruto shook his head. "Not them. It's…my eyes."

Itachi narrowed his own, knowing where this was going. "Care to explain?" he asked, wanting to see how much the boy knew.

"I have…the same eyes as you. Though you have more of those little marks than I do."

Itachi nodded. "You do. It's called the Sharingan. It's one of the three main visual jutsu I mentioned before."

Naruto looked at Itachi confused and pleading. "But how? How do I have it?"

Itachi put up a hand. "Unfortunately, that discussion is for another time. But I will tell you this, normally only those of the Uchiha can obtain the Sharingan. Your case is special."

Naruto looked down in defeat. "So I am a freak."

Itachi knelt down to the boy. "Naruto."

Naruto looked at him weakly, only for Itachi to poke him in the forehead with two fingers. "Don't worry about it so much. You'll learn the answers soon," he reassured with a smile.

Naruto looked at Itachi slightly miffed that he had done that but then smiled at his kind words, nodding in response.

Itachi then stood up with a sigh. "Well, I suppose that means I need to alter your training somewhat. I will need to teach you how to use your Sharingan. Along with its special fighting style, the Intercepting Fist."

Naruto smiled and then grinned. "Cool! So we're like brothers!"

Itachi looked at Naruto surprised and then nodded with a small smile. "Yes. I suppose you are."

* * *

Itachi had added training Naruto's Sharingan into the end of the daily training, replacing one of the hours of scholarly studies. This first started with Itachi getting Naruto comfortable with turning his Sharingan on and off. Getting to the point Naruto could do it without needing to concentrate, though that took several sessions over several days along with Naruto's own nightly training.

* * *

Over the next several months, Naruto's training continued, his rate of progression increasing. In chakra control, Naruto had gotten to training with stones. This started with him sticking small pebbles to his forehead and attempting to use chakra to make them stick. The first few times Naruto used too much chakra and sent the stones flying into Itachi's own.

That was the only time Naruto had seen Itachi cry.

He had eventually progressed to making stones stick to the ends of his fingers, which proved infinitely harder as he had to make the pebbles stick to his fingertips with only chakra while holding his fingers facing down.

* * *

In taijutsu, Naruto had gotten to an acceptable level of understanding in the academy style and Itachi decided to replace it with the Uchiha's own taijutsu style custom-made for the Sharingan, the Intercepting Fist. To Naruto's surprise, it was rather similar to the academy style, the main differences being moves that capitalized on the Sharingan's ability to predict the opponent's movements and how the user experienced a slowed down rate of time flow.

* * *

With strength training, Naruto had progressed to being able to do fifty push-ups, fifty sit-ups, and thirty chin-ups without getting exhausted, though Itachi had decided to make that section the last for the day so Naruto had energy to experience the rest of the day.

* * *

In kunai and shuriken use, Naruto was able to throw with enough accuracy to hit the middle circle in a five circle target with some consistency, fluctuating in and out at times, and was able to throw with consistent amounts of strength to make each throw stick.

* * *

Following that was ninjutsu, and Naruto had actually progressed past the hand signs and was learning the basic academy jutsu, the Transformation Jutsu, the Clone Jutsu and the Substitution Jutsu. Naruto had mastered the Transformation Jutsu easily enough, as Naruto had an active imagination. The Substitution Jutsu had required more time, almost two whole months, but Naruto had managed to do it.

However, the Clone Jutsu gave Naruto endless trouble. Itachi had spent almost three months training Naruto in the technique and found Naruto simply seemed incapable of it.

Itachi had noticed Naruto was able to use the minute amounts of chakra required for the jutsu. As a result, the clones always came out looking deformed due to chakra overload, or exploded upon creation due to having too much chakra condensed within their bodies.

After a week of doing the same results over and over, Itachi suddenly had an idea. He narrowed his eyes in thought as he looked over the sullen form of Naruto. "Naruto."

Naruto looked up at him dismayed. "What?"

"I think I know a way around this."

Naruto looked at him hopefully, though with some apprehension due to past experience. "What is it?"

Itachi nodded and ordered, "Activate your Sharingan."

Naruto nodded and did so. Itachi had told him that another of the Sharingan's abilities was to visualize chakra in the world around him as well as see hand signs for a jutsu with crystal clarity, regardless of how many or how fast the user flashed through them. It made it easy for Itachi to teach Naruto the hand signs for the different jutsu.

Itachi formed a hand sign Naruto didn't recognize, his index and middle fingers of both hands extended, his right hand point up with his left hand horizontal and behind the right. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly, two clones of Itachi burst into existence beside him.

Naruto blinked curiously. "How're they any different?"

Itachi nodded and formed a few hand signs. "Clone Jutsu." Two more clones burst into existence.

One of those two walked over to Itachi and reached out a hand, passing right through him before vanishing.

One of the other clones reached out for Itachi and grabbed his shoulder, shuffling his shirt.

That gave Naruto cause for pause. These new clones were solid.

"The Shadow Clones are useful in many ways. Perform it yourself."

Naruto nodded and formed the hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A Shadow Clone burst into existence, although Naruto stumbled from suddenly feeling so much chakra depletion.

"It's something you will need to get used to. The Shadow Clone Jutsu splits your chakra evenly among yourself and your clones, rather than using a minute amount to create an illusion. These clones are also solid and can be used for aid in combat."

Naruto tested this as he and the clone spent several minutes touching each other's fingers in curiosity.

"As a result, it's perfect for you."

Naruto, and his clone, turned to Itachi in confusion. "How?"

"Because, there's a reason you struggled with the Clone Jutsu."

"What is it?"

"Your chakra reserves are immense. As a result, the minute control required for the clones is near impossible for you to attain. The Shadow Clones, however, capitalize on your large reserves to create mass quantities of solid clones."

Naruto grinned proudly at hearing one of his oddities gave him an advantage.

The clone then suddenly dispelled and Naruto felt light-headed as strange images filled his head.

"Another advantage to the Shadow Clone Jutsu and another reason it takes time to learn. Whatever the Shadow Clone sees, hears, thinks and experiences is transferred to you as if you were actually there. It takes time to get used to the influx of information and be able to process it all effectively, but it is invaluable once you do. It also allows for much higher rates of training."

Naruto snapped out of his daze and looked at Itachi hopefully. "How!? How?!"

"Simple: every experience your clone has is transferred to you. That means all of the training it performs transfers the experience to you. That way you can cut down your training time by wide margins."

Naruto then began jumping for joy. "Can we do that!?"

Itachi couldn't help but smirk at the boy's enthusiasm. "Of course. It will allow you to section off groups of clones to spend the whole day on one subject at a time without needing to change focus."

Naruto couldn't help but brim at the idea of such expedited training.

* * *

A pair of curious and devious, light brown eyes watched the two of them.

* * *

Itachi had Naruto produce as many clones as he could at the time, which was a limit of eighteen. Itachi nodded in acceptance. He created six Shadow Clones of his own, and they went to go and train the other groups of three Narutos each while he focused on the real one.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Shouldn't I join one of them?"

Itachi shook his head. "No. Of all the subjects and matters Shadow Clones can help you improve, they are all only mental. Your physical body, your strength and fitness must be attended to by you yourself."

Naruto paled. "So…does that mean…?"

Itachi smirked. "Yes. You will spend the rest of this day training your body."

Naruto gulped in worry.

* * *

Another few days passed with Naruto using his new training method and making massive strides in his skills as he effectively had three copies of himself studying the different skills for an entire day. Giving him the benefits of spending the whole day on each subject times three.

However, his usual regimen of training was slightly interrupted when somebody interjected themselves into it.

* * *

One day as Itachi was focusing on Naruto's physical training, Naruto suddenly stopped when he got several memories from his clones coming in.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the same time for the same reason and then resisted the urge to face-palm at the reason.

"S-sensei!"

"I know," Itachi interrupted. With a sigh he thought, '_What's she doing here?_'

* * *

Elsewhere, a group of Naruto's clones were working on kunai throwing when a group of three kunai suddenly shot out of the trees and impaled each clone in the head, dispelling them.

Itachi's clone narrowed its eyes and grabbed its sword as he turned swiftly, three snakes bursting from the bushes. The clone pulled out its chokuto and slashed the snakes, causing them to disappear in bursts of smoke.

A figure walked out from the brush with a playful and sadistic smile. "Still got it I see."

* * *

"Senseeeiii…" Naruto pleaded, more of his clones being dispelled.

Itachi put up a hand. "That's enough. You can recreate them later." Itachi paused as his clone's memories returned. He then spun quickly and slashed with his chokuto, sending several kunai that were flying at him and Naruto clinking to the ground.

"AAHH! We're under attack!" Naruto screamed.

"That you are." Out of the forest walked a young woman with light brown, pupil-less eyes and violet hair which was styled in a short, fanned-out ponytail. She also wore a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam, with pockets on both sides, a mesh armor bodysuit that stretched her neck to her thighs, a dark-orange miniskirt, a dark blue belt around her waist that connected to her skirt with an appendage-like sash, a wrist-watch, pale-grey shin guards, a small pendant that resembled a snake fang on a thick cord and a Leaf headband that was mostly covered by her bangs.

Itachi sighed as she walked forward, the woman still not having the sense to put on a shirt, even around someone as young as Naruto. "Anko, why are you here?"

The now named Anko smirked in response. "Just curious." She then glanced at Naruto and smirked deviously.

Naruto, who had fallen back because of her entrance, backed up some with red on his face.

Anko chuckled. "So…this is the little punk you're training, huh?"

Naruto heard the words she said and narrowed his eyes.

"This little blonde kid is the one? The one who's the-"

Itachi waved a hand to stop her. "He is. He's my student, Naruto Uzumaki."

Anko looked back at Naruto. She noticed his flustered expression and knelt down to his level. "What's wrong? You scared of li'l ol' me?"

Naruto nodded.

Anko grinned. "Well don't worry, I ain't gonna hurt you. You're not worth the effort."

Naruto blinked before catching her meaning and shouting, "What the hell's that supposed to mean!?"

"A mouthy one huh?"

Naruto clammed up immediately.

Anko chuckled. "He's a funny one." She then noticed how his expression turned from fearful to slightly thoughtful. "Oh? Thinkin' 'bout something?"

Naruto looked at her surprised. "Er, yeah. You're scary," she grew a tic mark, "but you're also really pretty."

Anko blinked in thought as she processed his words. She then laughed heartily, wiping a tear from her eye when the fit stopped. "Is that so?! Look at this, Itachi! Only six years old and already a charmer! I'm pretty sure give him a few years and he'd be the next Jiraiya!"

Itachi sunk at that thought.

Naruto just laughed since she was too, not really knowing or caring who Jiraiya was.

* * *

Elsewhere, a man sat next to wall, peaking through a hole. When he began to sneeze. "A…a…achoo!" He then paled when the many sounds of angry women came from the inside. "Uh-oh…"

* * *

Naruto had learned soon after that Anko was also a ninja like Itachi. Not quite the same rank and placement but a jonin, the highest rank a ninja can achieve outside of Kage or ANBU.

He also learned she could teach him as well.

This was shown in one specific incident when Itachi was trying to teach Naruto some of the Leaf's politics.

"I'll ask it again. What are the names of the Leaf Village's main advisors?" Itachi asked.

Naruto grunted in response. "I don't know!"

Anko smirked. "Really? Well, maybe this will help you remember." She stuck out her arm and Naruto watched as three snakes slithered out of her sleeve.

Naruto paled as this occurred and stood up to back away.

"What are they names?" she persisted.

Naruto backed away shaking his head. "I don't know."

The snakes lunged forward and wrapped around Naruto, their heads reaching his neck.

Naruto then suddenly shouted, "Homura Mitokado, Danzo Shimura and Koharu Utatane!"

Anko dropped the boy with a thud. "Good boy."

Naruto just sat with anime tears.

Itachi rubbed his chin in thought. "Interesting. It seems quite effective."

"Gah! Traitor!"

Itachi merely continued to think.

* * *

Anko continued to "aid" Itachi in this way. Whenever Naruto would begin acting obstinate or was struggling to learn something, Anko would enforce the idea that retaining this information was vital to his continued survival. Ranging from threatening to strangle him with her snakes to almost injecting him with enough venom to kill the Nine-Tails.

* * *

The Nine-Tails. That was another subject Itachi was uncertain how to cover. If Naruto did know the truth behind it, which he didn't, he didn't show it. And Itachi couldn't figure out the best way to explain it to him. He also needed to decide how much of that information to share, specifically surrounding his parents.

Fortunately, Itachi was provided time to think when Naruto's strength training began to progress a little slower than normal, mainly because only Naruto himself could do it and he couldn't use Shadow Clones to help. He was getting much, much stronger thanks to an improved diet courtesy of Itachi's training and Anko's "motivations" and spending the entire day on strength training, but he also ended up hitting a plateau at one point.

Itachi told the real Naruto to take a break that day while the clones continued training so the real Itachi could figure out a new training regimen to continue his physical training. That and he had to decide how to break the information about the Nine-Tails to the boy.

* * *

Naruto had decided to take that time to go to the park, he hadn't been there in quite some time. However, as he made his way there, he realized he was being followed. Making his senses keen was part of what Itachi had taught him, being able to pulse small, unnoticeable bursts of chakra out from his body, acting as essentially radar. With that, he had noticed a small figure trailing behind him in short spurts as he walked. However, each time he turned to look at the person, there was no one there.

Eventually he saw a flash of dark blue ducking behind a sign and smirked. He continued walking forward slowly before immediately running down an alleyway.

He stopped and turned around to face his stalker, who turned the corner in a sprint and almost literally ran into Naruto, falling back onto the ground in surprise.

Naruto himself was surprised to see who it was.

A young girl with dark blue hair in a short, levelled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her face as well as white irises with a hint of lavender and was wearing a simple beige kimono. She looked up at Naruto frightened and then turned to run.

"Wait!" Naruto pleaded.

The girl stopped and turned.

"Please…don't run."

She looked at him surprised to see him with such a pleading expression. She nodded but still kept her head down.

"Uhm…why were you following me?"

The girl squeaked lightly in surprise and embarrassment. "Y-you…you knew?"

Naruto nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I could sense you there."

She covered her mouth, an almost guilty expression.

Naruto then chuckled lightly. "You know, if you want to talk all you had to do was ask. Wait…I don't know your name."

She nodded. "I'm…Hinata. Hinata Hyuga."

Naruto smiled. "Nice to meetcha, I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki, ya know!"

Hinata blinked curiously at the little additive at the end of his sentence. She giggled in response.

Naruto just grinned. "So, aside from following me what were you planning on doing?"

Hinata sweat-dropped at how lightly he referenced her stalking. She shook her head.

"Then how about you come to the park with me? I was going there to play."

Hinata nodded in response as she followed Naruto to the Leaf's central park.

* * *

As Itachi and Anko sat up in the shadows watching Naruto play with the Hyuga girl, Itachi suddenly realized that his task had gotten a whole lot harder.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata arrived at the park after only a short walk and found it empty.

Hinata thought it was just a slow day but Naruto had witnessed some of the parents taking their children away when Naruto began to approach, like always.

The two of them spent the day playing. First on the swing set, with Naruto adding in some of his newfound strength to send himself lunging forward harder.

Too hard as he was launched by the swing straight into a bush.

Hinata immediately ran over to check on him.

Naruto just stood up with a grin, covered in dirt and leaves, as though nothing happened.

They then moved to the seesaw. That also went bust when Naruto accidentally put too much force into his push, sent himself up, springing the board back away from him before it swung back, smacked his ass and sent him slamming into a wall.

He sat for a moment in a daze before standing up and getting back to playing. Hinata joining him.

* * *

"Heheh, lookie. Seems he's already got a fan," Anko remarked.

Itachi couldn't hide his small, yet satisfied, smirk. "So it seems. Perhaps she can help keep his curse at bay."

"Curse?" Anko asked.

Itachi nodded. "Yes. The Uchiha Curse of Hatred."

* * *

**Well, that's it for this chapter. It was just the first chapter but tell me what you guys think, and if you want to see more.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

**And here's the newest chapter. I worked on it a bit while I was unable to do my other stories so I ended up finishing this whole chapter. I have a coauthor now, the always trusty seeker of true anime fan fic, and he's helped me a lot since I've started the idea. I've also added a few crossover elements to the story for the future but I figure it's alright to keep this marked as a Naruto-only story since those elements are minor and are just a few characters. But that could change. Anyway, I guess it's time for reviewer responses, not that there are a whole terribly lot of them.**

**BruddaJokka: I know that's how some feel. I really wanted to do this as a story for me. So if you don't like I'm not forcing you to read it, I've also still got my other stories going so do as you please. I'd like you to read it of course and see where it goes but I don't have a Mangekyo Sharingan so I can't control you.**

**coduss: Cool. Dunno yet. Originally it was going to be neither. She was going to be just an older sister figure to Naruto but I've since come up with a few different ideas on what to do with her that I'll think about as time goes on.**

**God of Thorns: Uhm...want a cookie?**

**That's it for now. So that means it's time for the story itself. As usual, let me know what you guys think, like, hate it or don't care a review is usually welcome. Unless you're just here to shit on my day. :p**

* * *

Naruto and Hinata were playing in the Leaf's main playground, merely enjoying the day as they moved from activity to activity.

Unknown to them, Itachi and Anko stood in the shadows watching them.

Hinata looked past Naruto with worry after the sun began setting.

Naruto noticed this and looked at her puzzled. He turned around and saw why.

Ko, a man with short, backwards spike brown hair, featureless white eyes as with all Hyuga, a broad, well-defined nose, and wore the standard Leaf jonin uniform with a bandana style headband to hide his hair. He was also Hinata's appointed bodyguard. And he looked angry.

* * *

Itachi narrowed his eyes as Ko approached, unsure of what he would do to Naruto.

* * *

Naruto felt the same as Itachi as Ko approached.

Ko walked up with a stern expression at Hinata, causing her to flinch. "It seems you've been off playing."

Hinata nodded guiltily.

Naruto began to glare as he watched Ko.

Ko looked at Naruto and smirked, then reached out a hand to Hinata. "It's getting late. You can come back and play with him tomorrow."

Several people froze in response, Naruto himself included.

Hinata looked up at Ko shocked. "R-…really?"

Ko nodded with a smile as he led Hinata away, both of them waving to him.

* * *

Anko and Itachi couldn't help but chuckle at Naruto's dumbfounded expression. Anko, still feeling playful, walked out from the bushes.

* * *

"Soo…you found a friend?"

Naruto flinched and then turned around to see Anko behind him. He began to sweat heavily as he was worried what she would say.

She just smirked. "Good. Someone else to tort-er…I mean train."

Naruto then got an idea and began to run off.

Anko realized what it was, grabbed his collar, turned him around, and sent him off in the opposite direction, to where Itachi was.

* * *

Hinata and Ko arrived back at the Hyuga compound shortly. Hinata was very scared what her father, Hiashi Hyuga, would say about her playing with Naruto.

As they entered the building, Ko bowed as Hiashi, a man with long brown hair, featureless white eyes and wore traditional, loose-fitting robes with a brown haori, walked up to the two of them.

Hiashi waved a hand at Ko, dismissing him.

Hinata then turned to her father worried, now no longer having any support on her end.

Hiashi narrowed his eyes dangerously at Hinata. "What did you think you were doing, playing with that child? How many times have we told you to stay away from him?"

Hinata merely tried to curl up into herself in response, hoping he would stop.

Instead, that action made him angrier. "Well?! What reason would you have to so obstinately disobey my orders? Why would you-!?"

"Hiashi, Hiashi, calm down," a male voice almost identical to his own said placating.

Hiashi turned to see a man that looked almost identical to him, with the exception of green markings on his forehead. "Hizashi. What do you need?"

"I simply think you should ease up on her a little. She's a child. She's going to naturally explore the world around her. For now, let her do it while she's still Daddy's Little Girl, before she starts rebelling because of your sheltering."

"Hmph, you should keep opinions like those to yourself, Hizashi."

"Now, now brother, you're only older than me by a few moments, there's no need to act so roughly to me." Hizashi then turned to Hinata with a smile. "It's alright Hinata. That boy's simply someone that poses a threat, so your daddy doesn't want you to be around hm too much."

Hiashi turned up his nose at Hizashi's light words about Naruto.

Hinata curled up some, but then seemed to gain some ground, an almost defiant look on her face. "But Naruto's not like that!"

Both men's eyes widened in surprise. Hiashi in anger and fear, Hizashi in surprise.

Hiashi then began to clench his fist and was about to shout again when a slender, fair-skinned hand rested on his shoulder. "That's enough Hiashi, I don't think you need to say anymore."

Hiashi sighed in resignation as he turned to the woman, his wife. "Hanari, you're too easy on her."

Hanari was a beautiful woman with long, dark eggplant hair slightly past her waist and long bangs framing her face, white, featureless eyes with a tint of lavender and who wore the traditional Hyuga clothing, albeit more regal with her position as wife to the clan head, and looked like an older version of her daughter. She smiled warmly at Hinata and knelt down to her, rubbing a hand on her hair. "It's alright Hinata. You needn't be frightened of that boy. You can play with him as much as you like."

Hiashi gasped. "No! I object! That boy is-!" a stern, almost terrifying, glance from Hanari shut him up. It was obvious who led in that relationship.

Hanari patted her daughter's head softly. "Now run along. Dinner will be prepared soon."

Hinata nodded with a wide smile and ran off.

Hanari dropped her smile and turned to Hiashi with a frown.

Hiashi merely put his hands in his sleeves and looked at annoyed. "She has no reason to be around that boy. He's a monster and a menace."

"Have you ever stopped to prove that, Hiashi?"

"I don't need to. He has that beast sealed inside of him."

"Correct. _Inside_ of him. Not part of him."

"Bah! It makes no difference!"

Hanari just sighed and walked away.

Hizashi shrugged and left as well.

* * *

The next day, Naruto and Itachi sent their clones to do the normal training while Itachi sat in front of Naruto contemplating his next actions, which also left young Naruto feeling rather uncomfortable.

Naruto just looked at him uneasy. "Err…sensei?"

Itachi looked at him momentarily, having zoned-out in thought. He then sighed heavily. "Naruto, let me ask you something."

Naruto nodded.

"Do you know why everyone treats you the way they do?"

Naruto lowered his head sadly. He shook his head slowly in response.

"Do you want to know?"

Naruto nodded slowly, worried about the reason.

"Can you trust me? The reason won't be easy to hear."

Naruto frowned sadly but nodded. He at least wanted to know why everyone hated him, even if it was painful.

Itachi nodded. "Do you know about what happened six years ago?"

Naruto looked at him puzzled and then widened his eyes before nodding. "The Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village, but the Fourth Hokage killed it."

"Close. It is actually impossible to kill a Tailed Beast, one of nine that the Nine-Tails is."

Naruto looked at Itachi confused. But then he flinched.

"The only way to stop a Tailed Beast…is to seal it."

Further they widened.

"And the Nine-Tails is special…as no inanimate object can hold it."

His mouth began to gape as realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Only a human can contain it. And Naruto…you…are that human." Itachi narrowed his eyes as he observed Naruto's reactions, wondering if he made the right decision telling him so early.

Naruto's eyes went blank, his head dropped and his shoulders slumped as he just looked at the ground, taking in and processing the information he had just been given. It all made sense. The evil glares, the hate. The cruelty, the mean actions and poor treatment. Why he was called "demon" and "monster."

The silence was tense, even Itachi found it uncomfortable. Anko merely stayed silent, knowing how important it was for Naruto to process this information fully.

Naruto then slowly picked up his head. He looked at Itachi with wide, solemn eyes, scared eyes. "Sensei…am I-?"

"No!" Anko intercepted, to the surprise of both Naruto and Itachi. She caught herself momentarily, slightly embarrassed, but then decided to roll with it. "Not a chance. You and that _thing_ are most definitely one and the same. You're two completely different creatures."

Naruto put a hand over his stomach unconsciously, not realizing that's where the seal was. "But…it's seal inside me…"

"So? If you seal a kunai inside a scroll, is that scroll a kunai?"

Naruto looked at her in disbelief. "Are you stupid? There's no way a kunai inside…a…scroll…could be…" His solemn face widened into a brimming smile as the realization hit.

Anko just grinned. "Get it now? You ain't the fox, you're just its cage."

Naruto smiled happily. He then turned to Itachi and bowed from his sitting position.

Itachi raised a confused eyebrow.

"Thank you sensei. I get it now."

"Get what?"

"Why everyone treats me so badly. Why everyone acts so angry and scared towards me. They think I'm the fox. Well…I'll prove'em wrong! And I know just the way to do it!" He stood up proudly, looking at the village's Hokage monument. He put a hand out and declared, "I'll become Hokage!"

Itachi and Anko widened their eyes in response, then laughed. Though Itachi's was more a slight huff into his fist.

Itachi smiled at Naruto. "That's quite a goal."

Naruto just grinned. "Yup! But I'll do it! I'll be even greater than the Fourth Hokage, y'know!"

Itachi smiled, but then frowned again. '_That still leaves me to explain that part…how do I tell him who is parents are, and that they doomed him to this existence?_' He then looked at Naruto as he joked with Anko and brought on a new thought. '_If he can take this news that well he should be fine. But not now._' Itachi then stood up and flexed his neck. "Alright, time to start."

Naruto nodded emphatically. "Right!"

* * *

The day finished with Naruto's clones dispelling in groups, now he was able to put up to five clones in each group, so he didn't get an overload. The very first time he used the clones they all dispelled at once and the information overload, combined with the exhaustion, knocked him out for several hours.

As Naruto bowed respectfully to Itachi he ran off back to his apartment.

Anko lightly elbowed Itachi's side. "So, how ya going to tell him about his parents?"

Itachi sighed. "I haven't answered that part yet."

* * *

After eating his dinner for the night, Naruto decided to flop into bed, but then had an idea. He thought he might try to "find" the fox. The same way he found his own chakra he wondered if he could find the Nine-Tails'. Not to draw on it or anything, but just to know it is there. With that in mind, he sat in seiza and calmed his breathing, pulling out his own chakra then using his senses to examine his chakra. At first he felt nothing there, but then he decided to look deeper. To try and sense deeper into his chakra network. The first thing he found was the specialized network for his Sharingan set in unison with his regular chakra network. Trying to dig deeper he eventually found it. A large, powerful chakra hidden deep within his own. Just within his grasp should he want to take it, but not near enough that he could do anything substantial with it.

That wasn't enough. He dug deeper. Deeper into his network, deeper into his body.

However, the deeper he felt, he started notice his consciousness waning. He had assumed that it was just fatigue, until everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

He wasn't certain how much time had passed, or what had happened, he just knew that he was no longer in his room.

He felt water around him as he lie on his back, he opened his eyes and saw nothing until they adjusted. He stood up and looked around. Then wondered with a disgusted face, "Am I in the sewers?" He sniffed the air and realized it didn't smell foul or toxic and was thus confused but stood up and looked around. The place itself was a dark series of tunnels with water that came up to just below his knees, tall, almost featureless beige, brick walls that extended high towards the ceiling where a series of cables and pipes flowed along the top.

He noticed the cables seemed to transport a blue substance in one direction while the pipes transported a red substance in the other direction. He activated his Sharingan, which had gained a second tomoe in his right eye since his training began, and looked around. The place he was in was filled with chakra. But it wasn't normal chakra. To his activated eyes it seemed as though the tunnels were filled with a thick, slow moving red mist.

Out of curiosity and seemingly nothing better to do in that place he decided to follow the red pipes.

* * *

He followed them for quite a while, what he assumed was minutes, possibly an hour, before he found what seemed to be the place they all converged.

A large, tall, wide hallway the size of a small building that seemed to extend as infinitely as the rest. This proved not to be the case as he followed it.

He could clearly see there was an end. And when he approached it, he was surprised and confused as to what it was.

A massive set of iron bars that formed a set of double doors that were as wide and tall as the hallway they were in. In the direct center of the doors was a piece of paper with a symbol that he recognized as, "seal" on it.

He looked through the bars and saw what appeared to be an endless darkness with no top or sides going off in every direction. Curious he inched towards the bars, feeling fear grow in his heart inexplicably, to see what could have been inside when four large claws attached slammed in from between the bars.

The sudden motion was enough to make Naruto scream and fall backwards roughly.

The claws sat for a moment and then retracted into what he now thought was a cage.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and then widened them in shock, awe and horror at what was inside the cage.

A massive fox with bright orange fur, the torso and arms of a human, black marks covering its eyes and the insides of its ears, canines that stuck out below its top lip and nine, long, swaying tails behind it. Though its most shocking feature were its eyes. Large eyes with red irises and slit pupils.

Naruto gulped fearfully. "Y-you…you're the…"

"**I am the Nine-Tailed Fox."**

Hearing the beast speak, a low, almost demonic voice, Naruto snapped out of his shock and stood up, looking the fox straight in the eye.

It narrowed its own eyes in curiosity. **"Defiant. Are you not afraid of me? Do you not hate me?"**

Naruto clenched his fists at the beast. "I want to. You're the reason. You're the reason everyone hates me and loathes me. You're the reason everyone wants me dead. Because they think I'm you."

"**HAH! What a joke! To mistake my greatness for a pipsqueak like you! It's almost insulting if it weren't so funny!"**

"I don't think it is. My life's been a living hell because of you!"

"**Do **_**not**_** mock me cretin! Do you think I want to be locked up inside your tiny body like an animal?! Of course not!"**

"Is this the part where you offer me something for your freedom?"

"**Peh. No."**

Its answer confused Naruto.

"**The seal on you makes that impossible. Normally, if you were to die I'd be set free. But that damned Fourth Hokage used the damned Reaper Death Seal. Meaning if the seal is broken by you or your death then I'd be killed too. And don't go getting any funny ideas about tampering with the seal. All that charka you've got inside you is mine. Purified but still mine. Your body by itself is too weak, so it siphons my chakra, the seal purifying it. So we're stuck with each other. If you die, I die. And the opposite is true as well. So get used to it brat."**

Naruto snarled at the fox. "So!? Then what am I supposed to do, huh?! I don't want you living inside me!"

The Nine-Tails slammed its claws against the bars. **"Are you deaf?! I just said I don't **_**want**_** to be sealed inside you either! I'd be much happier and warmer out there than in this damp sewer. But we're stuck. So the best we can expect is you leave me alone and I don't try to make your life hell."**

"But you already are!"

That seemed to annoy the fox, though not anger it. **"And here I was expecting you to be different. You should know by now that I am not the one making your life miserable. The idiots out there who do not know the difference between a container and its contents are. I am merely the cause of their hatred. The hatred itself and where they place it is all their own however."**

Naruto heard its words and thought about it for a moment. He then looked back up at the fox. "That doesn't change that were you not in me I wouldn't be in this situation."

"**And if God hadn't made the moon or this planet I wouldn't be here either. We can't change the past. So stop blaming me for it you cretin."**

"Grrr, stop calling me a cretin!"

"**Then stop blaming me for your village's stupidity."**

Naruto clenched his fists at the beast before finally sighing in resignation as he flopped onto the ground.

The Nine-Tails raised an eyebrow as it watched this happen.

Naruto just sat on the floor, looking into his own reflection for a few minutes, the Nine-Tails sitting curiously by, its tails swaying behind it.

"I don't hate you."

"**Huh?"**

"You asked me before if I hated you. I don't. I hate that you being inside me makes the village hate me. I hate that they see me as being you. But I don't hate you. I can see you don't want to be inside me anymore than I want you in here. And I don't know what it is you did to get sealed inside of me, but I just feel that it wasn't truly your fault."

The fox chuckled with a light smirk. **"Oh? Do you now? You do know people call me the Embodiment of Hatred, don't you?"**

Naruto nodded.

"**And yet you still don't hate me."**

Again he nodded.

"**You…are a weird one. You, out of an entire race of humans that hate and kill each other, and that see my kind as either tools or monsters. And you're the one that I get sealed in. I can't decide if I should feel lucky or worried."**

Naruto grinned mischievously. "How about both?"

"**Eh?"**

"How about you feel both? Then you won't have to pick."

The fox just sat there staring at him for a few seconds before tilting its head back in loud laughter. **"Now **_**that**_** is a most unusual answer! I can't say whether I hate you yet or not, boy, but I can say you are amusing. And now that you've come in here for the first time I'll have a mental link to you."**

"A mental…link?"

"**It means you'll still be able to hear me, and I you, when you leave. You've proven to be an amusing one to speak to. My other Jinchuriki couldn't even provide that."**

"Other?"

The fox nodded. **"Yes. My two previous Jinchuriki. Mito and Kushina Uzumaki."**

Naruto's eyes widened. "U-Uzumaki!?"

It raised an eyebrow. **"Haven't you been told yet?"**

"I just learned about you today!"

The fox narrowed its eyes. **"I see…well it's not important now, brat. So get out of here and let me sleep."**

Naruto was not given a choice as the fox forcibly kicked him out.

* * *

Naruto awoke in his room and looked around. He sighed and then flopped over, actually going to sleep this time.

* * *

Naruto woke up groggily that morning and sat up slowly. He looked around curiously as the events from last night flowed into his mind. He then thought about what the fox had said about a mental link.

'_**You can hear me, can't you?**_**'**

"Gah! Who said that!? Where are you!?" Naruto shouted nervously as he jumped around.

'_**It was me nitwit.**_**'**

"Y-you mean…the fox?"

'_**Yes me. Now stop talking out loud. You'll look like an idiot in public.**_**'**

"Then how do I talk to you?"

'_**Just think it asswipe.**_**'**

'_Hmm…how's this? And stop insulting me, y'know!_'

'_**Stop being worth my insults. And yes, that's fine. Now you'd better get moving or that Uchiha scum will get angry.**_**'**

"Hey! Don't insult Itachi-sensei!"

'_**Heh…he may be helping you but he's still an Uchiha. And I suppose in a way, you are too.**_**'**

'_I…am?_'

'_**Has this "Itachi" told you nothing? He didn't even tell you about me until yesterday. So he hasn't told you about your family?**_**'**

Naruto's eyes went wide hopefully. '_I…I have…a family? I was always told…always told that I was abandoned by my parents because of you._'

The fox sweat-dropped. **'**_**Well…that's not entirely inaccurate. I suppose.**_**'**

'_Why? What do you mean? Who were they?! What were they like!? Were they-!?_'

'_**Slow down meatbag. I'm not in any mood to tell any of that to you. If you want to know ask him.**_**'**

Naruto frowned in mild defeat. He was really excited about learning about his parents.

* * *

After eating his breakfast he made his way down to Training Ground Seven, but was disappointed to find Itachi absent.

He looked around and noticed a seal on the ground. He approached it cautiously, uncertain of if it was a paper bomb or not, but then saw it. He didn't know what it was but he knew it didn't have the design of a paper bomb.

So he grabbed a stick and poked it. At which point a burst of smoke occurred, revealing Itachi.

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Why were you hiding in a paper bomb?"

"I'm not the real Itachi. I am a Shadow Clone. He told me to inform you he was called out on an urgent mission in the middle of the night. He is likely to be gone for a few days. So train at your own pace without him."

Naruto frowned somberly and nodded weakly as the clone vanished. His mind was racing with thoughts and concerns, questions and all sorts of other things. He needed time to think. So, he did the only thing he could think of given the situation. He went to find a place to sit and think.

* * *

He didn't know why, but sitting atop the Hokage monument, specifically the head of Fourth Hokage, made him feel calm and comfortable, so he merely sat up there for a while, thinking.

He watched the people below, indistinct specks from his spot atop the monument, as he perused his thoughts, seeing if he could come up with acceptable answers to his problems. He found none.

He sighed heavily as he continued to think.

After a few minutes he sighed again and then stood up. "I guess I won't get any answers sitting here. Might as well go train."

* * *

With that in mind he returned to Training Ground Seven to begin his solo training. He took out a small scroll Itachi had given him for that purpose which had several different courses on it. He made his usual batch of six groups of Shadow Clones and set them about the training.

He decided to go ahead and do his usual, but then stopped when he noticed that a strange part of the scroll was sticking out. A few words he didn't recognize on it. He raised an eyebrow and unrolled it further.

"Sealing…Jutsu…what's that?" He scratched his head and then noticed a seal on part of it and then connected the meanings. He smiled mischievously as he popped the seal, releasing a book on novice sealing. He cracked it open and decided to begin reading it on his own.

It was, as expected, very basic. What confused him is it was mostly about calligraphy.

But shrugging it off he decided to begin, following the lessons in the book.

His first works at it were…admirable. Hideous but admirable. That's roughly how he felt when looking over his doodles that were supposed to in some way relate to actual calligraphy. Sighing he decided to make a few more Shadow Clones and had them start on the task. He himself went back to strength training.

* * *

After finishing up his training for the day, despite ending it two hours before Itachi normally would, Naruto decided to make his way to the park again, just for the hell of it.

* * *

As he walked on the path there he stopped and noticed someone down on one of the small docks sticking out over the river.

A boy with black hair that spiked in the back.

He looked at the boy curiously until said boy turned back and saw Naruto there. Naruto just looked at him in a huff.

The boy frowned and then turned back around, throwing a stone into the river.

* * *

"Yo!" Naruto said as he popped over his shoulder.

The ravenette shouted in surprise before losing his balance and tumbling into the river.

Naruto fell backwards laughing.

The boy managed to pull himself up and glared at Naruto. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"

Naruto grinned. "You looked so lonely just sitting there."

The boy looked at him incredulously. "So you thought you'd knock me into the river?"

"That wasn't the plan but it sure was funny."

The boy twitched an eyebrow in response. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

Naruto pointed to himself and answered, "I'm Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki! And I'll be the Fifth Hokage, y'know!"

The boy looked at him in disbelief. "You're an idiot."

Naruto grumbled. "Well who the heck are you?"

The boy gave an annoyed response, "Hn. My name is Sasuke Uchiha."

"Uchiha?"

"What, don't know the name?"

"Oh I do. So what were you doing down here, shouldn't you be with the others?"

That seemed to sullen Sasuke's already depressed mood as he just stared into the water. "I don't want to be there right now."

Naruto folded his arms in thought. "Well…I'm going to the park. Wanna come?"

Sasuke looked at him confused. He then sighed with a shrug. "Guess I've got nothing better to do."

Naruto groaned. "You sound so enthusiastic."

"I'm an Uchiha. You should be happy I'm playing with you."

Naruto gained a tic mark in response, but then grinned deviously. "If you're so special," he then paused as he pushed Sasuke into the river, "then how come you get wet like regular people?!" Naruto then stuck his tongue out and ran off.

Sasuke just sat there fuming before pulling himself out of the water. He then couldn't suppress the laughter that broke from him.

* * *

Naruto continued running until he reached the park. He walked up the steps and noticed that none of the adults were pulling their children away, which was a relief in itself, but they also weren't letting any of them off on their own. He moaned in frustration and decided to go off on his own.

He found his way to a set of monkey bars and hopped up, using his greater strength to make it in one go, and climbed up on top of the metal structure. He then sat up there and watched the village.

After a few minutes he heard chatter from the ground below. He turned around and saw that a group of children had surrounded another and seemed to dogging him. Flowing some chakra to his ears, a trick Itachi had taught him, or specifically his clones which he had then picked up, he was able to increase his hearing. He couldn't risk flowing chakra to his eyes to increase his eyesight as that would reveal his Sharingan.

* * *

"Come on, fatso! You just gonna sit there?!" one of the kids shouted.

"Isn't your family supposed to be super important? Then why are you such a crybaby?!" another taunted.

The boy in question, a young boy with spiky brown hair, red swirls on his cheeks and, a fact the other children were crudely teasing him about, was slightly more robust than other kids. He was huddled against a tree as they shouted insults at him. "I…I just don't want to hurt anybody."

Naruto frowned when he continued to listen to the other children bully the kid. He finally had enough when he heard the sounds of attack and jumped off the metal bars, nearly ten feet in height, and landed squarely, before charging over to the other kids. "Hey! Back off!"

They let up on their assault on the round kid, the boy in question looking at him puzzled as Naruto stared them down angrily.

The leader of the group, a boy wearing a blue beanie, looked at Naruto with a disgruntled expression. "Che, what're _you_ gonna do? Our parents tell us to stay away from you, but you're just a blonde-haired freak! So why don't you just back off?!"

Naruto grit his teeth as one of them was still insulting and assaulting the other boy. He then brought up his hands in the Shadow Clone sign.

The leader of the group reeled back in fake horror. He then said in a mocking tone, "Ohh noo! He's gonna use ninjutsu on me! Bah, you moron! That's not even the sign for a real jutsu!"

Naruto smirked. "Bet me! Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five clones of Naruto then burst into existence, charging at the bullies.

* * *

It was only a few seconds before the other boys ran off, bruised and beaten.

Naruto panted and then turned to the boy that was being bullied. "Hey, you alright?"

He nodded weakly as he stood up. "Yeah…that was cool…but why'd you help me?"

Naruto grinned in response. "Because, you were in trouble. I couldn't stand those jerks picking on you like that. And it didn't look like you were going to fight back, so I did fer ya!"

The boy smiled happily. "Thanks! I'm Choji. Choji Akimichi."

Naruto nodded. "Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto then laughed uncomfortably. "I know it's late but…wanna play?"

Choji nodded as he stood up. "Yup!"

"Oy! Choji!"

Choji and Naruto turned as another boy came up to them, a boy with black hair pulled back in a pineapple shaped ponytail and a lazy expression.

Choji looked at him surprised. "Ah! Shikamaru!"

He saw Naruto and Choji and walked up, lazily of course. "Choji, it's time to go. Huh, who's this?"

Naruto stuck out a fist, "Naruto!"

Shikamaru nodded. "My mom's always saying to stay away from you."

Naruto dropped his fist and frowned.

Choji nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, yeah, mine too but…but Naruto helped me."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow curiously.

"A bunch of the other kids were picking on me, Naruto drove them off."

Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag. Well…I don't know what's up with my mom, but if you're willing to help Choji you can't be all that bad. But we got to go. But we'll be back tomorrow."

Naruto grinned. "Great! I'll be here later too!"

Shikamaru nodded as he and Choji left the park.

Naruto just hummed happily to himself.

'_**And what would you be so happy about?**_**'**

'_You kiddin'? I just made three new friends. Well…two and one weirdo._'

'_**All Uchiha are like that.**_**'**

'_I guess…but sensei doesn't seem that bad._'

'_**If you've known as many Uchiha as I have then you'd know what I meant.**_**'**

'_You know…you're really talkative all of a sudden._'

'_**I spent six years inside your seal with no connection to the outside world. Now that I have it the least I can do is entertain conversation with you. It's better than chasing my tails.**_**'**

'_You do that?_'

'…_**Sometimes…**_**'**

'_Hmmm…_'

'_**Silence.**_**'**

Naruto just laughed to himself.

* * *

Naruto arrived back at his house and noticed instantly the front door was cracked open. His eyes widened at what could be there, or rather who could be there. Gulping nervously he inched over to the door and peeked inside.

His heart fell. His house was a mess.

He fully opened the door, at that point not caring if anyone was there or not.

His bed had been torn into by some sort of blade, his food had been strewn across the floor, his table was broken and the chairs shattered. He also noticed hateful words and phrases etched on the walls. He clenched his fists in anger and pain as he looked around the room. He walked over to his now torn bed and plopped down onto it, holding his head in his hands as silent tears began to flow.

He heard a quiet, reserved knock at the door.

He looked up and saw Anko standing in the doorway with a sympathetic frown.

He looked at her for a moment before dropping his head back into his balled fists.

Anko ran a hand through her hair as she looked around. "Damn idiots." She walked over to Naruto and sat down. "It'll be alright brat."

Naruto pulled his head out from his hands momentarily to look at her, eyes still wet. "How? My house is wrecked. I don't even have any more edible food."

Anko patted his back. "I went through the same stuff."

"Y-you…did?"

She nodded. "Yup. Wanna know a secret?"

He nodded weakly.

"I actually used to have a sensei."

"Every ninja did."

She lightly rapped him on the head, "Not the point."

"Ow, ow."

"My point is not _that_ I had a sensei, but _who_ that sensei was."

"Who was it?"

"Orochimaru of the Sannin."

Naruto just looked at her puzzled.

"Oh…you don't know who he is yet, do you?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I've heard the name before but I don't know who he is."

Anko nodded. "Well, he's basically a monster. And I mean the real kind, not the type that go bump in the night."

'_**Like me?**_**'** the fox remarked rhetorically.

"He was, or, I suppose still is, a genius. Incredibly smart and immensely talented at ninjutsu. Unfortunately he's also completely crazy. He's obsessed with learning every jutsu in the world. So much that he created his own sick jutsu that essentially allows him to live forever."

"How…?"

"By switching bodies. He takes over someone else's body and it becomes his new one." Making disgusting motions she added, "He wears them like a new skin."

Naruto felt a shiver go up his spine at the thought.

"He also developed something called the Curse Mark of Heaven. He uses it to mark potential 'sacrifices' for his sick technique. He even marked me once." She pulled down her collar so Naruto could see the assortment of three tomoe in a circle that was placed on the back of her neck. "He trained me and twisted my mind and body to try and make me into his new body, but eventually he decided I wasn't worth it and threw me out like trash."

Naruto frowned sadly. "That's horrible."

Anko sighed. "Yeah, well, that's only the half of it. A little while after making me his student he went crazy and was made a rogue ninja by the Hokage. As a result anyone associated with him was given his reputation, for good reason or not. And that included me."

"Seriously? How?"

"Because, I was personally trained by that jerk and he even taught me some of his own twisted jutsu like the Striking Shadow Snakes, and so people made the connection I was some sort of pawn or agent for him. They hated me and despised me, pretty much exactly the way they do you. They feared and hated me for a situation beyond my control and for something I really wasn't. But, after a while I decided that if they were going to call me the Crazy Snake Lady I might as well embrace it. So I did."

"But…isn't that just helping their insults?"

Anko shrugged in response. "I eventually stopped caring what they thought about me. And I got strong enough that no one bothered me because they knew I could kick their asses if they did something."

Naruto snickered at her answer but then frowned. "But I want people to like me, not fear me."

Anko chuckled and patted the young blonde's head. "Well…you can bet your ass becoming Hokage would mean you've done it."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"The Hokage does not _become_ the most respected ninja, the most respected ninja becomes Hokage," a new voice said.

Both turned and saw Hiruzen standing in the doorway, a sympathetic smile on his old face.

Anko shrugged. "The words were a _liiittle_ different but I was gonna say the same thing."

Hiruzen walked in and looked around, frowning in frustration at the damage to Naruto's small room. He sighed and walked over to the boy. "I am sorry the village treats you the way they do, Naruto."

Naruto just looked at Hiruzen with a weak expression before jumping up and wrapping his arms around the old Hokage.

Hiruzen lightly rubbed Naruto's back before gently pushing him off. "Now, why don't you get some rest? I have an ANBU team returning in a few hours I need to prepare for." He then turned and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

Anko just smirked and gave a comical salute. "Yup. And the boss needs me to tor-er, 'interrogate' some prisoners." She then vanished in a burst of smoke.

Naruto sighed and then flopped over on his side, falling asleep quickly.

* * *

Naruto awoke the next morning and made his way to Training Ground Seven and grinned when he saw Itachi standing in the center. He ran over to the ANBU who turned as he approached.

"You certainly seem excited."

Naruto grinned happily. "Yup! I made some new friends yesterday."

Itachi smirked. '_It seems he has an innate ability to focus on the positive. That will serve him well._' "I see."

"Hey, sensei."

"Hm?"

"Do you know someone named Sasuke?"

Itachi twitched lightly in surprise, though Naruto didn't seem to notice. "Why? Did you meet someone with that name?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "Uh-huh. A boy that looked like you, but he was sitting out by the river in the village and looked really sad. So I made him forget about it."

Itachi sweat-dropped. "Do I want to know how?"

"I pushed him into the river!"

'_That explains why Sasuke was sopping wet when I got home._' "I see. Anything else?"

"Well, do you know him?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes. He's actually my younger brother."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Seriously!? That's so cool!"

Itachi smiled mirthlessly. "I suppose." He then steeled his features. "Now. Let's resume training."

Naruto returned a comical salute and then made seven groups of clones.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Seven?"

"Yeah! I looked at the scroll you gave me and started on sealing jutsu! Although…my calli…cali-whatever stinks."

Itachi looked at Naruto in mild surprise. "Very well. I hadn't intended on you starting sealing jutsu just yet. But…it could help your handwriting."

Naruto sweat-dropped. His handwriting was abysmal.

* * *

So with those preparations set up, Naruto, Itachi and their various clones began training.

However, rather than just do strength training, Itachi decided to give Naruto a light test to see how he had been progressing, since testing the real Naruto was better than testing clones. First he test chakra control, getting Naruto to levitate a leaf on the end of one finger. It wobbled slightly but stayed up there.

Itachi nodded as they continued testing.

* * *

At one point Itachi had Naruto test his kunai throwing abilities.

He handed Naruto a set of kunai and set out several wooden targets. "All you need to do is strike the circles. A bull's-eye isn't necessary."

Naruto smirked proudly, he was going to make a bull's-eye. He flipped a kunai into the proper grip, pulled back his arm like a spring and launched it forward. Not only did he make it hit the target right in the center, he used so much force it blasted right through.

Naruto was prepared to grin and boast when both he and Itachi heard a shrill shriek from the bushes.

Both of them ran over to check what it was and saw Hinata cowering under a tree, anime tears flowing from her eyes as a kunai was impaled just above her head.

"H-Hinata."

Itachi sighed in resignation. Things just got complicated.

Hinata looked at Naruto and Itachi fearfully.

Itachi reached out a hand and the girl looked at it puzzled. She stuck out her hand timidly and he pulled her up. "So, mind explaining why you're here?"

Hinata began to sputter and mumble nervously.

Naruto looked from side to side, also nervous. "Well…you see she's…she's my friend."

Hinata then bowed deeply with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry. I was prying. I was just curious where Naruto went every day, so I…I followed him."

Itachi sighed. "Well, now you know."

Hinata then looked between Naruto and Itachi puzzled. "Naruto. Why are you with an Uchiha?" She then looked at Itachi frazzled. "I-I-I-I…"

Itachi put up a hand. "I've been training him."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! He's my sensei!"

Hinata tilted her head confused. "But you're not a ninja."

"There are extenuating circumstances," Itachi answered as he put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Hinata furrowed her brow in thought, not knowing what the words meant.

Then a gruff female voice remarked, "It means there's stuff going on in the rest of the world that's causing Weasel-Man to train Goldilocks."

"G-G-Goldilocks!?" Naruto shouted in frustration at his nickname.

Anko just smirked. "Yup. 'Cuz ya got golden colored hair."

Naruto frowned, annoyed but enjoying the compliment.

Itachi then looked at Hinata and asked, "Shouldn't you be back at the Hyuga compound training?"

Hinata looked down crestfallen. "I'm not very good at my clan's style. I also don't like fighting so…I lose a lot. And then my dad yells at me. So I follow Naruto since he always seems so happy." She looked at the three sadly.

Naruto frowned and then grinned. "Hey! What if she trains with us?!"

Itachi raised an eyebrow and then looked at the girl. She seemed happy at the thought. And it obviously made Naruto happy. He sighed in resignation. "So be it. But she will train on her own with one of my clones, she'll start from the beginning."

Naruto jumped for joy and Hinata smiled happily.

Itachi sighed and created a Shadow Clone that took Hinata off to the side while Naruto and Itachi returned to their training.

* * *

Itachi, or more specifically Itachi's clone, was surprised how well advanced Hinata was. Her chakra control was quite good, she was already able to make a stone stick to her forehead with no problems and her taijutsu skill was nothing to mock. She wasn't particularly strong but she was fast and had good aim. She hadn't yet learned to use her clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan, but she was already learning the Gentle Fist style acceptably well.

At the moment, the clone was training her chakra control for starters, by having her stick stones to her fingertips with chakra alone while facing her palms to the ground. She grunted as she held the stones.

The clone looked at her and then raised an eyebrow. "It's easier if you stop holding your breath."

She gasped in surprise, ruining her concentration, and causing the stones to drop, before turning to the clone and nodding.

She put the stones on her fingertips and tried again, this time trying to remain calmer while breathing slowly.

* * *

Naruto, as a result of being the real Naruto, was training his strength as normal. He had progressed to a surprising level. He was doing handstand pushups. He was currently attempting to do twenty pushups in a row.

"Seventeen…eigh…teen…nine…" his counting was interrupted as he lost his balance and suddenly fell onto his stomach. "Owww…"

Itachi sighed as he stood. "That was a good number. You can take a break for now. I suppose we should start breaking your strength training up on different days. I'm starting to notice problems with your movements."

Naruto chuckled weakly. "Yeahhh…I'm feelin' kinda sore."

Itachi nodded. "In that case I suppose we will alternate. Every other day we will focus on something other than strength training. There are still a few hours left in today so we could switch. How about a new form of chakra control?"

Naruto moaned in response.

"It's tree climbing."

"I already know how to do that."

"Without using your hands."

Naruto face-faulted. "How is that even…poss…ible…?"

Rather than answer in words, Itachi answered in the way he knew Naruto understood most, actions. So he walked up the side of tree with his arms folded, parallel to the ground.

Naruto just stared at him agape. "I'm in!"

Itachi jumped down. "Thought so. It's actually very simple. You must concentrate charka into your feet to act as a suction to the surface. It also trains charka control because your feet are the furthest part of your body and you need to perfectly regulate the chakra flow in your feet to make it work."

Anko then added, "It's also a necessary part of being a ninja since you need to be able to run up trees to get into the branches and tree hop. You won't always have the time or place to climb with branches. Plus using chakra like that you can climb almost anything, not just trees."

Naruto thought about for a moment before a kunai landed in front of him.

Anko pointed to it. "Use that to mark how high you get."

Naruto picked it up and nodded.

"You might want a running start."

Naruto ran back away from the tree, brought up his hands in a sign to focus his chakra and then ran at the tree, ran two steps up the tree and then slipped off.

Itachi nodded. "You weren't using enough chakra."

"Yeah…" Naruto grumbled, running back and trying it again.

He pumped more chakra into his feet and ran at the tree again. He made it five steps up that time but then had to mark the tree when the bark suddenly buckled under him and he went blasting off the tree.

He landed face down in the nearby dirt with a resounding thud.

"That time you pumped too much kiddo," Anko remarked.

Naruto rubbed his sore face and tried it again. He kept trying for the majority of the day.

* * *

After finishing up training for the day, Itachi and Naruto's clones dispelled and Itachi's last clone returned Hinata to the two and then vanished.

Naruto turned to Hinata happily. "So, how'd it go?"

Hinata smiled with a nod. "Yes. It was fun." She then frowned. "But I think it would've been more fun with you, Naruto."

Naruto smiled sheepishly.

Itachi looked at Naruto curiously and the blonde just nodded. Itachi nodded in return and then regarded Hinata. "In that case, if you think it will help your own training then I will start to train you two in unison. That would mean Naruto is held back some and you would need to catch up. But I can foresee it being generally positive in the future."

Both children smiled happily before Itachi told them to return home.

* * *

As Itachi walked away from Training Ground Seven he closed his eyes and sighed. "You can come out now."

Ko then walked out of the thicket. "I see you were training Lady Hinata today."

Itachi nodded and looked at him incredulously.

Ko then smiled. "You needn't worry. I am more along the lines of Lady Hanari's train of thought. I don't feel it is good to isolate ourselves from the rest of the village. It would be especially poor judgment to make enemies of a clan as powerful as the Uchiha. So, I won't do anything to stop your actions. I will, however, need to lie to Lord Hiashi. It would be best if he is unaware of this until sizable improvements in Hinata's abilities are on display."

Itachi turned with closed eyes. "Do as you please." He then teleported away.

Ko just smiled and did the same.

* * *

That is the way it remained for several months. Itachi trained both Hinata and Naruto in secret. Naruto was held back in his own training by Itachi, however, rather than complain about it like Itachi expected, Naruto suppressed his own skills to appear even with Hinata and at points displayed less skill than her.

Hinata was aware that Naruto was much stronger than that already but she was happy he was being so nice to her.

* * *

However, matters became rough shortly after Naruto turned seven. One day, he was training with Itachi alone because he was told that the Hyuga were involved with negotiations with the Hidden Cloud Village, hoping to bring the two villages to peace.

Naruto was disappointed Hinata wouldn't be joining but knew how important something like that was.

After a few hours of training, an unknown ANBU appeared before Itachi.

Itachi put up a hand to Naruto and regarded the random ANBU. "What do you need?"

"We have an emergency. Lord Hokage has requested you personally. The heiress of the Hyuga Clan has been taken hostage by a Cloud Ninja."

Itachi narrowed his eyes but then glanced at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened greatly. "T-that's…Hinata!" Naruto turned and ran at the tree behind him, having done great strides in his tree climbing, and ran up and over the branches.

Itachi sighed. "Which way did they go?"

"Reports say northeast, in the direct direction of the Land of Lightning."

"Simplistic. But swift. Anko."

She nodded and both jonin jumped up into the trees and sped off.

* * *

A short way ahead they found Naruto, already becoming tired since he was only now practicing tree hopping.

Anko got up close to him. "You should calm it down kiddo. You've never done tree hopping before, you'll hurt yourself falling at this height."

"I don't care!" he shot back.

Anko looked at him puzzled.

"Hinata's in danger! I won't let her get hurt, y'know!"

Anko looked at him surprised and then smirked, extending a hand out.

Naruto momentarily gasped as he felt something wrap around him. He looked down and saw Anko's snakes around his torso.

"You better hold on tight. I'll carry you like this most of the way. But then you're playing magic missile when we find little Miss Princess."

Naruto looked ahead assuredly. "Perfect."

Anko couldn't suppress her chuckle at the boy's determination. Even Itachi had a light smirk.

* * *

A small group of Cloud ninja ran through the treetops of the Land of Fire's vast forest, the leader of the group holding a small sack over his shoulder.

"Heh, heh," one of the ninja chuckled darkly. "It's insulting how easy it was to get this girl. It's like the fools were just asking for her to be taken."

The ninja holding the sack, which presumably had Hinata inside, chuckled in response. "I know. Those idiots didn't realize a thing."

One of the other ninja then turned. "Shit! We're being followed!"

"What?!"

They all turned and saw Itachi and Anko, the latter of whom still had Naruto wrapped in her snakes, catching up to them.

Anko smirked deviously and thrust her arm back then forward. "Anko's Personal Jutsu: Goldilocks Missile!" She flung Naruto at full speed at the center ninja.

Despite his small frame Naruto packed a powerful wallop as he slammed into the man's torso and knocked him to the ground hard, causing him to drop Hinata.

Naruto managed to catch her and free her from the bag as they fell. He frowned at the fact she was unconscious and howled in pain when he landed on the ground back first, although still clutching Hinata tightly.

The Cloud ninja stood up angrily. "You little brat…you'll pay for that." He pulled out a metal club on his back and approached Naruto.

Naruto reacted and turned around, using his body as a shield for Hinata as the man began beating the boy over the back with great force, Naruto going unconscious quickly but never releasing Hinata.

After a few seconds of swinging he felt a very tight, very angry fist grab his hand and then jerk it back and down, the wrong way. He howled at the pain as the visceral snap was heard from his arm breaking. He looked back with clenched eyes into the angry Sharingan of one Itachi Uchiha. He then looked ahead and watched Anko approach, equally as pissed. She raised her right arm and shouted, "Striking Shadow Snakes!" Three vipers appeared from her sleeve and lunged at the Cloud ninja, biting his neck three times and injecting with copious amounts of venom, killing him off swiftly.

As Itachi released his dead body he looked around at the dead bodies of the other four Cloud ninja, then saw Naruto, sitting against the tree, completely unconscious but still holding Hinata tightly in his arms.

"There!" he heard a familiar voice shout as Hiashi Hyuga and several other Hyuga and ANBU appeared. He saw a battered and bruised Naruto holding Hinata tightly and growled in anger. "I knew that little brat couldn't be trusted."

"Actually, he protected Hinata," Anko interjected.

"What? Doesn't matter either way. Take my daughter from that _thing_," Hiashi ordered.

One of the Hyuga walked over and attempted to lift Hinata, seeing that as he attempted to do so Naruto came with her. He attempted to do the same thing, holding Naruto down but discovered the boy had a strong hold on her despite his age. "Sir, he's holding onto her extremely tightly."

"Then rip his arms off."

"That won't be necessary," Hanari ordered as she walked up. She saw Naruto sitting there, unconscious but still protecting her daughter. She frowned at Hiashi. "Even unconscious from injury and he's still protecting our daughter with all his life. And you wish to cripple him." She then turned to Itachi. "Would you mind carrying the two of them back to the compound for me?"

Hiashi and several others gasped. "You must be joking! He's an Uchiha! I forbid it!"

Hanari looked at her husband sternly, then to Itachi. "It's fine, do as I say."

Itachi nodded and picked up both children before the entire group vanished into the forest and back towards the Leaf Village.

* * *

Naruto slowly awoke in a strange place. He looked around and did not recognize where he was. After a moment his mind rebooted too and he remembered last night, shooting up to a sitting position and looking around frantically. "Hinata!"

"She's alright," he heard a soft voice say.

He turned and gasped as Hanari walked in. '_So pretty…_'

'_**Oh boy…**_**'**

Hanari walked in and sat down next to Naruto. "Tell me, are you hurt Naruto?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked around himself and then shook his head. "More importantly, is Hinata-?"

Hanari raised a hand calmly. "You needn't worry. She is alright. In fact, she sustained very light injuries thanks to you."

Naruto smiled thankfully, then frowned regretfully.

"Now what's with that face? You aren't possibly feeling regret about not being there, are you?"

Naruto's frown deepened, he didn't realize he was that transparent.

Hanari smiled warmly. "Even Lord Hokage wasn't able to predict this, so you don't need to feel any guilt. Sadly events such as this are not uncommon in clans with well-known abilities. The Uchiha also experience such occurrences from time to time."

"Why did you…?"

"Compare it to the Uchiha? I am aware of your training with Itachi Uchiha. As well as my daughter's."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Now don't worry. I have no intentions of stopping it. In fact, I encourage it. Hinata has been so happy lately. Actually, you're all she can talk about. She has gotten so much stronger as well." Hanari then giggled playfully. "Of course my oaf of a husband believes Hinata's recent developments are all his doing, and I have no intentions of disavowing him of those notions. I feel my husband's head getting a little bigger is an acceptable compromise for Hinata's happiness."

Naruto smiled in return. "Thank you Miss Hyuga."

Hanari giggled at him lightly. "Fufu, you needn't be so formal. Please, call me Hanari."

Naruto grinned, "You got it, Hanari, y'know!"

"Well, well, you look energetic."

Naruto turned and saw Anko entering the room. He smiled at her and then asked, "Hey, where's I-?"

"He's with the old man right now. Seems the Cloud somehow turned last night around and made it our fault."

Naruto frowned in anger. "How can they do that?"

Anko shrugged. "Don't ask me. I'm not a politician, I just kill things."

Naruto chuckled at her answer. "Yeah, you have a point."

Hanari giggled in amusement as well and then turned to Naruto. "Naruto. If you're truly worried about Hinata, I could show you to her room."

Naruto immediately stood up.

"Fufufu, I see. Then come with me."

* * *

Hanari proceeded to lead the young blonde through the large, old-fashioned building the compound was formed from towards Hinata's room.

Naruto hung his head as even there, in an isolated compound, the stares, the angry looks, the insults still hit him.

"Pay them no mind."

Naruto looked up at Hanari surprised.

"They simply do not understand. They are merely afraid. So don't hate them for that. In fact, most of them should be thankful." Hanari then looked at Naruto with a warm smile. "You protect us all every second that you're alive."

Naruto's eyes widened as he listened. While Itachi and Anko were certainly nice to him, no one had ever been so kind before. He then stopped as he began wiping tears from his eyes.

Hanari turned to him in confusion and knelt down. "What's wrong, dear?"

Naruto responded by merely hugging the Hyuga matriarch. "No one's ever said…such nice things."

Hanari gave an amused chuckle as she wrapped her own arms around him. "That's unfortunate." She then stood up. "All of it is true. Now, why don't we get you to Hinata's room?"

Naruto grinned and nodded.

* * *

Inside the Hokage's tower, a small meeting was being held. Hiruzen, Hiashi, Hizashi, Danzo, Homura, Koharu, Itachi, and several other ANBU of the same rank scattered around were in the Hokage's main office.

Hiruzen took a heavy drag from his pipe with a sigh. "So, they're really trying to pin this on us?"

Homura nodded. "Yes. It seems that one of the shinobi that was killed was their head of shinobi affairs. The others were guards with him."

Hiruzen turned to look at Itachi. The latter nodded in response. "I see. So, Hiashi, they were after the Byakugan?"

Hiashi nodded. "That is why they took my daughter instead of someone from the branch families, because in doing so they wouldn't need to worry about the Bird Cage Seal."

Hiruzen sighed. "So, that would explain their demands. They refuse to complete the alliance with our village and will start a war unless we bring them your head as recompense for their loss."

Hiashi flinched in response. "I see."

Hiruzen took another drag from his pipe. "So, Hiashi Hyuga. Will you accept this?"

"I…"

* * *

A few days later, the Third Raikage had arrived in the village with several of his own shinobi to meet with the Third Hokage.

The Third Raikage looked at Hiruzen sternly, a deep frown on his face. "So, do you have it?"

Hiruzen grit his teeth and stuck out his hand, a casket next to him. "The body of Hiashi Hyuga, just as you requested."

Several people, including Hiashi's brother and several other members of the Hyuga, had shown up to the offering. Hanari was among those who was most discontent.

Naruto sat nearby with clenched fists.

The Third Raikage opened the casket and looked over the body, Hiashi's forehead covered in bandages. The Raikage nodded and covered the body. "We will accept this for recompense after you killed five of our ninja in your so-called rescue."

A young boy next to Hizashi widened his eyes as the Cloud ninja left.

Hizashi clenched his fists as the Raikage and his entourage left, the onlookers doing the same.

* * *

After a short travel outside the village, the Raikage turned to his men. "Tear off those bandages."

"Yes, sir!"

They removed the bandages and gasped, the Raikage clenching his fists. "Damn Hokage…"

The body they had been given was in fact not Hiashi, but his identical twin, Hizashi.

* * *

After returning to the compound, "Hizashi" removed his own bandages and exposed his clean forehead.

The boy that was with him looked up at Hiashi somberly. "Why did they take my father?"

Hiashi looked at the boy and winced. "Because…it his fate to aid the main house."

* * *

_Hiashi prepared to give the Hokage his answer. "I-"_

"_No!" Hizashi objected._

_Hiashi turned to him with narrowed eyes. "This is not your decision to make, brother."_

"_You may be right brother, but I am making this decision. I will take your place. You know as well as I do that they are only doing this to get ahold of the Byakugan, they don't care about those five ninja."_

"_Be that as it may, if we give them a lie it will start a war."_

"_Not if they don't realize it's a lie. You and I look identical, Hiashi. I will take your place as the offering to the Raikage, and we will both have bandages. I am certain not even the Raikage would be so foolish to publicly doubt the Hokage in that way. No, he wouldn't check my body until he left the vicinity of the village. And I am also certain the Raikage could not risk the social breach it would create to accuse the Hokage of lying in such a way."_

_Hiashi narrowed his eyes angrily._

"_Hiashi, do not get the wrong idea. I am not doing this for your sake."_

_That caused Hiashi's eyes to widen._

"_I am doing this for the sake of our clan, our village, and to prevent war. I am also doing this…to decide my own fate for a change."_

_Hiashi then just dropped his shoulders. "I see…so you will take my place then, Hizashi?"_

"_Yes. Please, tell my son, Neji, my reasons for doing this. I've spent his whole life thus far putting my own worries on him. Tell him I did this of my own accord. And for no other reason."_

_Hiashi clenched his fists. "Very well."_

* * *

Hiashi then turned away from the boy, Neji, and returned to his room.

Neji just looked down in sadness before walking away.

However, as he walked, he passed by Hinata's room and happened to overhear the conversation inside.

* * *

"Naruto…"

Naruto turned to Hinata curiously. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Why did uncle Hizashi have to die?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't really know. But my guess is those Cloud jerks didn't like that their ninja got killed when I rescued you."

Hinata frowned but then smiled. "Well thank you, Naruto."

Naruto just grinned. "You got it Hinata, y'know!"

* * *

Neji's eyes widened greatly as he was suddenly overcome with rage. He clenched his fists to the point of shaking, but then loosened them as Hiashi's words came into his mind. '_It was his fate to serve the main house._' "Fate…" Neji mumbled. He then looked at Naruto angrily. "If it was fate for my father to die…then fate will even the score. And I will do it…Naruto Uzumaki."

He then turned and walked away.

* * *

Several more days passed after that. It took Hinata and Naruto a while to get back into the natural flow of their training. However, on one day, a new member to their little group arrived.

* * *

Naruto, Hinata, Anko and Itachi were busy training in their usual place.

Naruto was sparring with Hinata, something that Itachi had decided would be a good weekly practice based on their performance.

After watching the first few spars and then witnessing this one as it happened, an idea began to formulate in Itachi's mind. After a few more seconds he waved to the two children over.

They halted their spar and ran over to him.

"What's up Itachi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Itachi nodded and turned to Hinata. "Tell me, how much do you know about your clan's taijutsu style, the Gentle Fist?"

Hinata tilted her head in thought. "I…know a little. Why?"

Itachi nodded. "I've noticed that your style involves pulsing chakra from your hands for extra damage."

Naruto gasped. "Wah?! Seriously?!"

Hinata nodded hurriedly, frightened by Naruto's sudden outburst.

He clenched his fists and then looked at her with stars in his eyes. "That's…so cool, y'know!"

Hinata couldn't hid the blush on her face. She suddenly found amusement in her toes as she also pressed her fingers together. "Y-you…you really…think so?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. You can hit a guy without even touchin'em! It's so cool, y'know!"

Itachi nodded in agreement. "That's the same line of thinking I was having. Hinata, how well do you know your style?"

Hinata thought for a moment. "Uhm…not a whole lot. Momma knows the most. She's the one who teaches it to me."

"I see. I suppose there's nothing I can do then. I was considering helping to teach it to Naruto."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Itachi nodded. "It would make a great combination with our Intercepting Fist. Allowing you to not only predict, counteract, and move in on your enemy, you would be able to land hits without needing to contact your enemy. In opponents with chakra-based armor or high-speed movement it would be invaluable. As it is, I will just see if I can gather a few scrolls on the style."

"I have a better idea."

Everyone turned in surprise as Hanari entered the field.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. '_I was wondering when she'd come out. Like mother like daughter I suppose._' "Lady Hanari, can we help you?"

Hanari giggled demurely. "I was merely passing through the area and happened to overhear your conversation, so I thought I'd chime in."

Anko sweat-dropped at the woman's obvious lie.

Itachi nodded. "It would be greatly appreciated. Hinata tells me you are a master in the Gentle Fist."

"I wouldn't go quite that far," she said kindly, "but I know enough to teach it to Naruto if you would like."

Itachi nodded again. "I believe it would be best. He has a group of clones nearby who are training with one of my clones in taijutsu. Explain the situation to him and take half of Naruto's clones to train them."

Hanari brought a hand up to her mouth and started laughing quite sweetly. Almost too sweet. "Fufufu…that almost sounds like an order, Mr. Uchiha."

Itachi began to sweat heavily at the intense Killer Intent the woman was releasing. "Ah…I apologize."

"It's no problem. I would be glad to help Naruto. And my daughter of course, when I can."

Itachi then sighed heavily. '_Why do I get the feeling facing the Nine-Tails would be an easier challenge than running on her bad side? Hopefully I needn't discover the truth in that statement._' He then turned back to his two students and gave the signal to begin, the two of them bowing and returning to their spar.

* * *

Hanari continued to aid Itachi in training the two of them over the next several weeks, even taking over the training on the days Itachi would need to be called away. Thanks to Naruto's ever increasing chakra reserves he was able to form more and more clones, increasing his training capacity further and further.

He had increased his number of clones in training to twenty per group, his growth in his skills had begun to boom. He had mastered the tree walking exercise in only a few days, rather than a few weeks, and had already begun to move onto water walking.

His other skills had improved greatly as well. Hanari was more than surprised at how quickly he was progressing through the points of the Gentle Fist. Naturally he couldn't master it to the extent that a Hyuga could, lacking the Byakugan's ability to visualize the chakra network within a human body.

* * *

After one particularly successful day of training, Naruto walked on his way home in the waning sunlight and passed by one of the Leaf's many playgrounds.

However, as he did, he heard strange sounds from one of the trees in the park.

He sweat-dropped, worried why a tree would be making such a sound.

**'_Idiot, there's someone over there._'**

Naruto face-faulted. '_Oh...yeah...guess I shoulda thought of that...huh?_'

**'_Moron._'**

Naruto sighed and made his way around the tree to find who was making said sound.

* * *

On the other side he found a young girl sitting against the trunk crying.

It was a girl around his age with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes who wore an orange, sleeveless blouse, a black skirt, mesh stockings, and sandals.

"Hey," Naruto said plainly.

The girl stopped crying momentarily to look at him, sniffling a few times. "What…?" she asked through sniffs.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because…I'm lost and I can't find Granny Cat anywhere."

Naruto took a moment to think. '_G-…Granny…Cat…?_' Shaking his head he looked at her puzzled. "Okay…where do you think this 'Granny Cat' would be?"

Looking at him curiously she stood up and wiped away the tears in her eyes. "At the Uchiha district. I just don't know where it is…"

Naruto grinned. "Don't worry, uhm…"

The girl nodded slowly. "Tamaki."

Naruto smiled again. "Don't worry Tamaki, I know where that is."

She smiled hopefully. "You'll take me there?"

He nodded. "Yup! I can't really…go in with you but I'll show you where it is."

She nodded and followed Naruto away from the park.

* * *

Up on the rooftops, Itachi was making his way home when he noticed Naruto below him. He raised an eyebrow and then saw Tamaki with him. '_Why is he with Granny Cat's daughter?_'

He decided to follow them just to be safe.

* * *

"Well, here we are," Naruto said happily as he pointed to the entrance to the Uchiha clan district.

Tamaki looked from Naruto to the gate puzzled. "Why won't you go any closer?"

Naruto began to answer when a familiar voice intruded. "Because my clan doesn't appreciate outsiders."

Both children turned to see Itachi behind them.

Naruto started to address Itachi when the ANBU gave the now familiar "I don't know you" look. Naruto nodded subtly and then turned to Tamaki. "Alright then, I guess I'll leave you with mister ANBU."

Tamaki nodded with a smile as Naruto turned to run off, suddenly grabbing his hoodie, unintentionally tearing the already weak seam.

Naruto coughed for a moment before turning to her. "Ack, what?"

"Uhm…I never got your name," she said shyly.

Naruto grinned. "Naruto Uzumaki!"

She smiled and nodded in return. "Alright then, Naruto."

Naruto nodded and left the area, Itachi leading the young girl inside.

* * *

**And that's the end of this chapter. Tell me what you guys think about it, in reviews of course.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

**Well hello everybody. I know I said this would be just a side project but so many of these ideas just won't leave my head. And I'm making no headway on my other stories. Wagtail Shinobi is tied up because of "reasons" and Final Reign is just presenting a real pain in the ass to write. So I decided to work on this instead. The ideas are flowing, and things are finally getting going in the story. What I'm curious is if anyone recognized "Murasaki" from the last chapter. If not this chapter should start to reveal a few things. Things I'll mention next time. For now I'll just stick to thanking my coauthor, seeker of true anime fan fic, and move on to reviewer responses. There aren't a huge number more than before, but enough I should be able to respond to a few.**

**Rose Tiger: He is, isn't he? Nice profile pic by the way. (-_o)**

**coduss: I happen to like her. Or at least, the version of her I've created in my head since we know practically nothing about her besides appearance. You could be reading too much into it. Or you could not be.**

**Duanemaster: So you noticed that, huh? Don't worry, it's coming. These first few years are important though, they set up a lot of stuff for later. So don't get too impatient. Almost everything that happens here ties into the future, so I don't want to leave too much out.**

**That seems to be it. I hope this story picks up soon, I'd like to get more reviews, but I'll stick with what I've got. Four per chapter is a good assortment for now I suppose. On to the story.**

**A/N: I've done a heavy overhaul on the story so that's why I'm reposting this chapter with some heavily edited content, including adding in a few scenes I was planning on saving for chapter four. It was beginning to turn into a Naruto/Senran Kagura crossover but for several external reasons I decided not to do that so I had to rework chapters two and three. Two wasn't that difficult but reworking three to remove all of the Senran Kagura characters was a pain. Anyway, enough of my whining and onto the story.**

* * *

Naruto groaned after he left the Uchiha district, his hoodie now having a tear in it. He then perked up as he got an idea.

* * *

Naruto slowly made his way to the Hyuga compound, to find the one person he knew could sew well.

Naturally the guards were ready to kick him out, but Ko managed to calm them down enough to let the boy in.

* * *

Naruto thanked Ko as he walked into Hanari's room.

"Oh, and why would you make a special trip here? You didn't come here just to see me did you?"

Naruto laughed weakly as he took off his orange, sleeveless hoodie. "Actually, I did." He handed it to her, showing her the tear.

Hanari looked at it for a moment and smiled. "Ah, I see. Don't worry, I will have it repaired in a few minutes, you can just wait outside."

Naruto nodded as he moved to sit out on the walkway.

* * *

"Naruto?"

The blonde turned as he saw Hinata walking up to him. "Oh, Hinata, hey."

Hinata nodded to him. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto laughed weakly. "I accidentally tore one of my hoodies, so Hanari's fixing it."

Hinata nodded with a smile as she sat down. "Mom is really good at sewing."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yup, she sure is."

"Alright, here you go."

Both children turned as Naruto took his hoodie back from Hanari and threw it on. He chuckled happily at the fixed seem. He gave the Hyuga matriarch a comical salute. "Thanks, y'know!"

Hanari giggled amusedly. "Anytime. I don't have all that much to do most days, so feel free to visit with any such projects."

Naruto nodded with a thumbs up as he ran out of the compound.

Hanari couldn't suppress a giggle as she noticed Hinata watching him leave. "My, my, has Naruto caught your fancy?"

Hinata looked at her confused before blushing, sputtering and dashing into her room.

"Fufufu…"

* * *

Naruto dashed back to his room as the sun swiftly set over the mountains.

Unfortunately he wasn't watching where he was going very carefully and slammed into someone when he rounded a corner.

Naruto groaned as he sat up.

"Why you little…"

Naruto looked up and saw a man carrying a basket standing above him. He was very pissed. Naruto stood up, trying not to look the man in the eyes. He bowed respectfully and apologized.

The man growled at him. "I don't want your apologies you beast. Just be gone!"

Naruto frowned at the man angrily before moving to circle around him.

He ran past the man and several other people, who were all hurling insults at him before he managed to get to the relative safety of his apartment.

* * *

Naruto arrived back home, which had been mostly restored after his first break in, and flopped down on his bed. "This sucks."

**'_I told you this village is filled with morons._'**

'_You aren't helping._'

**'_Whoever said I was here to help?_'**

Naruto just sighed. He then turned over and sat up. He looked over at his door and got up.

He flipped down several pieces of paper. In the time since he started practicing sealing jutsu, his calligraphy was not yet perfect but he was able to make simple seals by copying existing ones. So the ones he used most often were effectively friction seals. A series of three seals, shaped like paper bombs, place on his door, overlapping the door and the wall, that worked by making the door impossible to move unless the right hand sign is made, causing the seals to tear, or if Naruto lifted them away from the door.

After finishing with that particular task he made his way to make a meal for himself.

* * *

The next day Naruto arrived at Training Ground Seven bright and early, Itachi was there as usual.

Itachi turned to Naruto and they began their training.

That day was focused on strength training.

Itachi noticed how distracted Naruto was during their training, but did nothing to comment on it as he figured Naruto would bring it up if he wanted.

* * *

Anko, however, was not so graceful. She noticed Naruto's distracted state and immediately called him out on it.

"Oy, brat, what's got you all hung up?"

Naruto flinched and Itachi tried to subtly regress her actions, but it was too late.

Naruto tightened a fist as he looked away. "It's…nothing."

Anko sighed and lightly tapped him on the head. "C'mon kid, I work with the I&T Department, I'm trained to notice the slightest hint of unease in a person, and you're practically cloaked in mire."

Naruto clenched a fist further and then sighed. He looked at Anko with a weak smile. "It's really nothing. I just got shouted at by a few of the villagers."

Anko sighed. "You know kid, you need a spine."

Naruto tilted his head and pointed to his back. "I have one."

Anko waved her hand. "No, no, not the literal kind. The metaphorical kind. If someone dogs you, taunts you, insults you, and hurts you, there's a great, single, universal way to get back at them. Prank the hell outta them."

Naruto furrowed his brow. "But how?"

Anko patted his back. "C'mon, you're the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, you gotta have a sly or slick bone in there somewhere. Just think of something crazy and stupid to do to piss someone off, but not kill'em, and then do it. It's especially great if you can't be tied to it. Hmm…I got one. For most people, you could color them your favorite color with paint bombs."

Itachi began to sweat.

Naruto thought about it and then grinned. "I know exactly what to do."

* * *

Naruto had decided to act on Anko's suggestion.

He would recognize the man anywhere due to his distinctively large chin.

He found the man easily enough as he was walking down the street. He did some light trailing and found out where the old fool worked and then set his plan into motion.

Using a combination of tripwires, buckets and paint, he set it up so that when the man opened his door the next morning to begin work, paint would cover him and part of his workplace.

To the end of "not being tied to the crime" Naruto used a color he didn't like, namely pink, and a combination of other things that he knew were actually more indicative of some other pranking kids.

* * *

Anko praised Naruto amusedly for his acts.

Itachi just sighed.

* * *

The next day Naruto and Itachi trained, Itachi decided Naruto should do something new.

Itachi then explained what would be next. "We'll be covering the Teleportation Jutsu for now."

"You mean the smoke bomb thing?" Naruto asked.

Itachi raised an eyebrow and then nodded slowly. "Probably." He then pulled out several wooden planks and laid them down. "First I'll explain it. The Teleportation Jutsu isn't actual teleportation, despite the name. It uses a short burst of chakra to help you move at incredibly fast speeds. The smoke that normally accompanies the jutsu is merely a distractor so enemies can't tell what direction you went." Itachi demonstrated by going through the necessary hand signs and then turning into a blur before reappearing on one of the wooden planks. "That's what the jutsu looks like without the smoke." He moved back to his previous position. He then performed the jutsu again, this time releasing a small amount of chakra as smoke when he moved, and then again when he reappeared. "Understand it? It's always best to start with a target in mind so try moving to these wooden planks."

The children nodded and went through the hand signs.

Naruto went first. "Teleportation Jutsu!" He excluded the burst of smoke and then stopped at the wooden plank, or intended too. He instead kept going and slammed right into the tree behind it.

Itachi sighed. "Usually you stop the flow of chakra when you want to stop."

"Could have…told me…earlier…" Naruto moaned as he lay twitching on the ground.

Hinata couldn't hide her light laughs, but then covered her mouth in shame.

Naruto laughed back. "It's alright, it's my own fault for messing up."

That seemed to cheer the girl up some.

Naruto continued to practice the Teleportation Jutsu while an Itachi clone took Hinata off to continue her training.

Although Itachi began to notice something peculiar with Hinata as she continued her training that he hadn't witnessed before.

In the short few months that she'd been training with Naruto and himself her chakra reserves had nearly doubled.

That was impressive because while chakra control training had the possibility of increasing someone's reserves, it usually didn't do so to such a great extent.

Her reserves will still on the low end for even most genin but if they kept increasing at that same rate then Itachi was certain she would soon surpass the high end.

* * *

After that another period of normality developed for a few weeks.

Naruto's training progressed as fast as normal. He had fully mastered tree-walking, at least under Anko's terms; which were that you haven't fully mastered tree-walking until you can fight for half an hour on a vertical surface the same way you can on the ground. Under normal terms Naruto had already mastered it but he liked Anko's terms better.

His clones had begun to focus even further on water-walking, having some trouble handling it, primarily because of the exact control it required.

After that period of time Itachi decided Naruto's progression in chakra control was stalled, so he came up with a new exercise, or rather, decided to implement an old one.

* * *

"A new jutsu?" Naruto asked.

Itachi nodded. "Yes. It's something that not even I myself have fully mastered." He then held out his right hand, grasping it with his left to keep it steady. Naruto watched as chakra began to swirl and collect in his hand before forming into a small, baseball sized ball of spiraling chakra.

"Woww…what is it?"

"It's called…the Rasengan," Itachi said through grunts before releasing it, the technique being hard for him to maintain. He then pointed to a small wooden bucket nearby that held water balloons.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What am I supposed to do with those?"

Itachi nodded and picked one up. Using only his chakra he caused the balloon to burst.

"Wah!?"

Itachi nodded. "You need to control your chakra in such a way that it causes the water to swirl until the balloon bursts."

Naruto nodded and picked one of the balloons up. "How…do I do that exactly?"

"You will need to figure that out on your own, along with your clones."

Naruto nodded and caught his meaning. That being that Naruto would now devote his time and the time of his clones into learning the Rasengan. He didn't know how long it would take but he was going to learn it.

Itachi then left to check on the others and Naruto dispelled all of his clones. He grit his teeth due to the massive influx of information but was able to sort through it shortly and sat down with a sigh. After a moment he picked up the water balloon and thought about how best to make his chakra manipulate the water. After a few moments of thinking he thought back to the training he'd been having with Hanari about the Gentle Fist.

* * *

_Hanari stood in front of a group of Naruto clones, explaining the basics of the Gentle Fist._

_"Now, unlike the Intercepting Fist or the basic academy style, the Gentle Fist does not focus on direct strikes to the opponent, but on getting close to them." She demonstrated by facing a straw dummy suspended by a rope. She punched it normally, causing it to be shaken by the force. She then grasped the dummy and opened her palm, thrusting at the dummy but not hitting it, getting the same effect._

_The clones gasped in shock._

_Hanari smiled knowingly. "The easiest way to train how to utilize the Gentle Fist's unique chakra based attacks is with another object. For example a suspended straw dummy. I'm certain you've learned how to control and flow chakra from your fingers and hands," the clones nodded, "this works the same way. Except you are bursting chakra from your hands rather than flowing it."_

_The clones stood up and began practicing, placing their hands against the dummies and trying to surge small amounts of chakra from their palms to hit the dummy._

* * *

Naruto snickered proudly after coming up with the idea and burst some chakra from his hand. He watched the balloon shift in his hand. "Heh, heh, this'll work."

He then concentrated on flowing chakra from his hand into the balloon and causing it to spin. He was having a little trouble with that last part. Getting the chakra to flow out from his hand was easy enough. Making it do what he wanted after that was a little harder. "Grr…crap!" He then got an idea. "Hmm…I'm supposed to make it spin…but what if I _stirred_ it?"

He created a single Shadow Clone which nodded and knelt down next to him.

As he flowed chakra into the balloon the clone condensed some chakra in its hands and thrust some of it into the balloon at an angle.

Naruto flinched when he felt the balloon shift. "Do it again!"

The clone nodded and did that again from a different angle. It then did it again and again. The balloon began to shift in Naruto's hand and he also tried to control some of its shifting.

The water in the balloon began to shift more and more, spinning and rotating until finally, it burst. He grinned proudly. He then went to work doing it again and again.

* * *

He spent several days practicing the Rasengan while Itachi was out on a mission.

On one of those days he decided to take a break and head down to the park. That and because Hinata had announced she wished to do so.

He was also curious if Sasuke would be there again, it would be fun to prank him once more.

To his satisfaction, the sullen oaf was there again, sitting on the dock.

Naruto snuck up slowly behind him.

"I know you're there."

Naruto froze and then laughed uncomfortably. "Oh…you, uh…do, huh?"

Sasuke stood up and turned and frowned at Naruto, then raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you said you're name was Naruto, right?"

He nodded.

"Do you know any easy paths to take to evade someone you _really_ don't want to meet?"

Naruto grinned and pointed a thumb at himself. "I'm a master at it."

Sasuke nodded. "Good. I don't know the village outside the Uchiha district well. And even if it's you I'll accept what help I can get."

Naruto looked at him flatly. "You sound so grateful."

"Hn, shut up, loser."

Naruto twitched an eyebrow. "You need to can it, jerk."

Sasuke then stood up and looked at Naruto. "Well, how about we get going then?"

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, but is there really someone you're trying to avoid so badly?"

Sasuke sighed heavily. "It's…a long story."

"There he is!"

Sasuke turned scared.

Naruto turned confused, an entire group of girls standing there that suddenly charged them.

Sasuke gulped and turned to Naruto. "Run! Fast!"

Naruto nodded emphatically and the two of them took off running.

Naturally the two boys were able to outrun the group of pursuers rather easily, but each time they thought they could take a breather the group located them again.

So the two kept evading the pursuing group of girls, evading them and then being found a few seconds later.

* * *

The two sat in an alleyway panting.

"Geez, jerk! How'd this even happen!?" Naruto asked.

In between pants, Sasuke answered, "…I…don't…know…they just…keep…coming…" Sasuke then sighed as he caught his breath. "So, about those escape routes?"

Naruto stood up with a nod and then looked around. "Hmmm…I'm not overly familiar with this section of the village, but there are a few buildings that have crawlspaces you can use or small chunks of buildings that connect two of them you can use to escape if you can climb up there."

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Hmm…I guess higher ground is better."

Naruto nodded and then turned to two buildings behind him, a small concrete divider sitting between them. He then jumped, high, up to the top of the first floor and then propelled off onto the divider.

Sasuke looked at Naruto surprised. "You gotta be kidding…" He then sighed annoyed and used some of the pipes to climb up. He lost his balance partway up but Naruto caught him and helped him up. "Good grief…what is up with you?"

Naruto just grinned. "I need to run off from people a lot…though it's for a different reason than yours."

Sasuke sighed as he stood up. "I see. So, where should we go from here?"

Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. "Anywhere we want really."

Sasuke slumped against the wall in frustration. "Well, I think I can handle it from here. I just need to try and get back to the Uchiha district before they find me."

Naruto grinned playfully. "Well good luck, Sasuke." Naruto then ran and jumped to the adjacent building, which had the ravenette blinking in curiosity for a moment before he sighed and jumped back down into the street and began running for the Uchiha district.

* * *

He didn't get far before he heard a familiar shriek. He turned around and saw only a few of the girls this time, namely the two loudest, one with blonde hair and featureless blue eyes and one with pink hair and green eyes.

Sasuke groaned as he rounded one of the corners to make his way into the shadows, when he bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch it," he grumbled before opening his eyes.

In front of him was a small girl with long orange hair and brown eyes.

Sasuke looked at her puzzled before noticing her rather despondent look. "Hey…you lost?"

The girl looked at him roughly. "Why do you care?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't. Bye."

"What?! That's not what you're supposed to say you jerk!"

Sasuke glanced back at her. "So…you are lost?"

The girl moaned before folding her arms. "Alright, fine! I'm lost! Now, think you can help me?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe. Where are you trying to go?"

The girl flopped down. "That's what I don't know. I came here with a few of the other Fuma ninja and got separated. Now I have no idea where I am."

"Fuma?"

She nodded. "Yeah, my name's Sasame Fuma. Why? You never heard of them?"

Sasuke scratched his chin in thought. "Didn't you guys invent the Fuma shuriken?"

Sasame dropped her shoulders. "Sheesh, is that really all we're known for? Whatever, yes, we're the ones that came up with it, obviously. Now I'm looking for a few of my fellow clan members, think you can help me or not?"

Sasuke shrugged again. "Maybe. Any idea where they were planning on going?"

Sasame folded her arms in thought. "Yeah…I think my brother mentioned something about setting up a weapons trade with the Hokage or something."

Sasuke nodded. "Then that would mean they went to the Hokage tower. You do know how to get there, don't you?"

She looked at him deadpan.

Sasuke sighed and turned around and motioned her to follow him.

* * *

The young Uchiha led her to the Hokage's tower where they asked a few of the attendants if they had seen Sasame's clan members.

Fortunately they were still in the village and had in fact gone to the last place Sasuke had expected.

* * *

"Why would they go to your clan's district instead of directly to your leader?" Sasame asked.

"Because, my clan makes up the village's internal police force. So we'd be the most interested in new weapons. At least, that's what I'd think. We'll ask my dad or big brother when we get there if they know where Arashi and the others are."

Sasame nodded as they continued walking. "Uhm…I never got your name."

"Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasame nodded again, with a minute smile, "Thanks, Sasuke."

The ravenette raised an eyebrow but nodded anyway.

* * *

Naruto was busy on his way back to the playground where Hinata was, using the rooftops so he could test out his new strength and speed thanks to the gravity seals. He found that with his seals completely deactivated he was much, much faster than normal. He knew that almost anyone above high genin would probably outpace him, but he was having fun just running at the speed he was going. However, as he sped along, he stopped when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Stopping atop a water tower, he turned and saw a nearby water tower with someone else standing on it.

A girl about his age with very fair skin, short, pale blue-green hair, featureless violet eyes and wearing a simple white dress.

Naruto was confused as to what the girl was doing atop the tower when she seemed to notice him and turned towards him. Naruto looked at her puzzled for a moment before waving with a smile.

The girl looked at him bemused before smiling weakly, however, she lost her balance and began to tumble off the tower.

"Crap!" Naruto shouted, using an idea he had learned from his tree-walking to reach her.

* * *

_Naruto was busy struggling with his tree-walking exercise, groaning heavily about not being able to reach the top in a manageable amount of time._

_Snarling he charged forward, already concentrating his chakra into his feet and began running up the tree._

_He made it about a quarter of the way up when he used too much chakra and got sent flying back._

_"W-what the...?!" he shouted in surprise, before realized that he had effectively just jumped a great distance._

_He did his best to land upright on the ground and decided to test an idea off a nearby rock._

* * *

Naruto surged chakra from his feet while standing on the water tower, the blast, combined with his move to jump, sent him rocketing forward.

He managed to reach and grab the falling girl before she fell too far down, unfortunately ending up himself slamming into the wall as he hit the roof below with a thud.

"Ow, ow, ow..." Naruto moaned. He then looked at the girl in his arms before she swiftly stood up.

She looked at him bewildered and slightly embarrassed.

Naruto stood up with a smile and looked at her with a worried expression. "You alright?"

It took a moment for the girl's brain to reboot as she nodded slowly.

Naruto noticed the strangely vacant expression she seemed to be constantly stuck in. "Think you'll manage not to fall off of anything else?"

The girl nodded silently. She then pointed to Naruto.

Naruto tilted his head then understood what she meant. "I'm Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki, y'know!"

The girl laughed lightly at his tic and then nodded. "Kagero. Kagero Fuma."

Naruto nodded and began to run off. "Be careful Kagero!" He then took off, having forgotten again about meeting Hinata.

* * *

Naruto managed to arrive in the playground before the day got too terribly late, still having some time to play with Hinata before the night ended. They spent several hours merely playing alone in the park.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he and Hinata finished building a small sandcastle in the sandbox at the park. "Geez, who'd have thought it'd be this hard?"

Hinata laughed lightly. "Actually, it was pretty fun."

Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Yeah, says the girl who just sat there with her teddy bear."

After cleaning up their mess, Hinata said her goodbyes to Naruto and they went to their respective homes.

* * *

Naruto returned to practicing the Rasengan and had gotten the balloon popping down to where he could do it with one hand and no help from a clone.

Good for him too as he mastered it practically the day before Itachi arrived.

* * *

After witnessing Naruto's progress, Itachi approved and showed him the next part.

"A rubber ball?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Itachi answered with a nod. Popping this isn't as easy as popping the water balloon. There's no water inside to accelerate the process and the rubber is thicker and denser than the balloon, requiring more power to pop.

Naruto titled his head back and forth in thought. He then cracked one eye open. "So the last one was about the Rasengan's rotation and this one's about the power?"

Itachi smirked. "You learn fast. That's exactly it. Now, get practicing yourself for a bit. Once you've got the main idea down hand it off to your clones. I have a new strength training method that will help the plateau you're at."

Naruto nodded and spent an hour or two practicing with the ball. He formed a clone to help him form the chakra's rotation inside the ball and found it extremely difficult to make the ball even shift, let alone pop. After spending two hours grinding at it he figured he had the rough basics down and made a group of clones to handle the rest, the group running off with the bucket of rubber balls.

Itachi nodded. "Good. Now, put these on your arms and legs."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and tilted his head.

Itachi was holding four paper slips, each one with a complex seal on it.

Naruto narrowed his eyes curiously. "What…is that?"

"Gravity seals. They increase the amount of gravitational pull your body experiences."

Naruto gaped in confusion.

Itachi sighed and simplified it. "It makes your body heavier, requiring more strength and power to do the same tasks. This way we needn't alter your training regimen a great degree, you will need to struggle to do the same tasks over again."

Naruto was still confused.

Itachi just shook his head and applied the seal. He then made a half-sign.

Naruto suddenly felt his body become really heavy before he fell forward in a slump. "Gah! What is this?"

"I've increased the gravity you experience to twice normal, meaning your body will need to work twice as hard to do something as simple as stand up."

Naruto groaned as he strained to lift his arms enough to get into a proper position to stand up. He understood the basic concept behind the seals now, but it was a severe pain trying to work with them.

He grunted and groaned as he lifted himself up into a mere sitting position. He panted heavily as he did. "Holy cow, these things are heavy!"

"That's the idea. It will also mean you will be much stronger under normal gravity. If you can get to some of the higher levels then you can keep them on at all times, increasing them for training or lowering them for when you need a boost in power."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he then worked at something that seemed insurmountable now, standing up. He made it to a kneeling position and then fell flat on his face. "Oww…"

* * *

Naruto spent the rest of the day training that way, trying to perform just normal functions like standing, walking and running while under the effects of the seals. He eventually made it to an uneven standing position, but a slight push from Itachi showed that he wasn't comfortable standing yet.

So after deactivating the seals and leaving for the day, Itachi left a few with Naruto should he decide to do any of the training on his own.

Hinata was surprised to see the new development in Naruto's training, neither of them had yet reached that point yet.

* * *

Another comfortable pattern formed in Naruto's life at that point with his and Hinata's training. His clones were having a lot of trouble with the second stage of the Rasengan and stayed there for a few more weeks.

Naruto himself managed to build up the strength necessary to be able to run for nearly a minute without getting fatigued, though considering he could run almost indefinitely under normal conditions meant he had a long way to go.

His jutsu clones had since mastered the Teleportation Jutsu and had in fact moved on to weapon based jutsu, including the Shadow Kunai Jutsu, a technique that's based on the Shadow Clone Jutsu that creates four solid clones of every kunai thrown, meaning that if Naruto threw one kunai it'd become five and throwing ten kunai would create fifty, as well as the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu, the same technique applied to shuriken. He had also learned to start replicating the effects of simple genjutsu with his Sharingan, which had progressed to stage three, two tomoe in each eye, out of the total five stages. He was forced to rely on his Sharingan since his chakra reserves were far too large to utilize the minute chakra amounts needed for genjutsu, the same problem he encountered with the Clone Jutsu.

In taijutsu, Naruto had effectively aced the majority of learning the Intercepting Fist and how it functioned with his Sharingan as well as the basics of the Gentle Fist. While keeping a small group of clones focused on honing his use of the Intercepting Fist, Naruto sent most of his clones to bring his knowledge of the Gentle Fist up to par, even though he could never master it without the Byakugan.

In chakra control, Naruto had advanced to water-walking admirably, his clones able to stand and run on the water just as comfortably as land. Jumping presented some issues but he was quickly getting past those. He wasn't able to maintain the focus for very long as his control would falter after a few minutes, meaning he still hadn't mastered water-walking by his own criteria.

His kunai and shuriken throwing had essentially become as good as can be expected for a child, so Itachi had moved on to a new subject, kenjutsu. While he himself was not a master at it he had the same level of skill all ANBU were required to have with the sword, which was enough to comfortably teach Naruto. His progression was slow at first but he had managed to get a hang of the basic stances and moves of Leaf-style kenjutsu, even managing to throw in a stray taijutsu strike at random points.

His Sharingan training had effectively been fused with his jutsu training since Itachi had trained Naruto to spot and individualize the twelve basic hand signs at high speeds, and be able to gather most of them at blinding speeds. He had also taught Naruto how to see and differentiate the six different types of chakra, fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, and neutral chakra.

His Rasengan training left a little to be desired. His clones had managed to get the power up to the point where, with the use of their free hand, they could make the ball pop after five seconds of formation, which was far too long Itachi had told him, it needed to be no longer than three seconds.

Hinata had progressed to being able to do ten handstand pushups, ten sit-ups and ten chin-ups along with two minutes of running altogether before her strength let out.

Her chakra control had actually excelled. She had reached tree-walking and had nearly mastered it by Anko/Naruto's criteria. She was able to spar with Itachi's clone while standing on the tree for twenty-six minutes before she lost grip.

Her taijutsu, which consisted solely of the Gentle Fist, had progressed quickly as well. She had gotten the basic movements down pat and was handling striking specific spots, which were still marked externally with pen, with precision. Bursting the chakra wasn't going well though.

With her Byakugan, she was getting to where she could spot the chakra points after a few seconds of study, able to see almost half of them. However, she needed to be able to see them immediately to use her Byakugan in combat.

Her weapon skills were progressing at an average rate, but Itachi had noticed that while her power in throwing was not very high, her precision was excellent, so he moved her to a different weapon, senbon. She seemed to fit perfectly with the ultra-precise weapon. Able to land a bull's-eye at a fair distance and hit close to the center at farther distances.

Her ninjutsu was going well too. She had passed mastering the Transformation Jutsu and was nearly finished the Clone Jutsu, something Naruto was proud of her for, though she was disappointed as she knew it meant she had small reserves.

* * *

After a few weeks of this regular progression, Naruto had finally made a breakthrough, literally, on the Rasengan. He could now, with only one hand, make the ball pop from the swirling force of the chakra alone after a mere three seconds of formation.

Itachi nodded with a smirk as Naruto jumped up and down with joy.

"That's great Naruto," Hinata encouraged.

Naruto grinned. "Yeahh…it was so hard too."

Anko smirked as well. She then turned to Naruto with a frown. "I suppose we won't be seeing much of you tomorrow, will we?"

Naruto frowned somberly and shook his head. "No, I'll be staying in my apartment most of the day."

"Why?" Hinata asked.

"Because, the village kinda hates me. Especially on my birthday."

Hinata frowned somberly. "Oh…I'm sorry."

Naruto grinned. "Don't sweat it, Hinata. All I gotta do is stay in my house until it's over and they'll be done."

Itachi frowned lightly at that comment, remembering the night he and Naruto had officially met.

Hinata had remained mostly silent during the discussion. "Uhm, Naruto…"

Naruto turned to her puzzled. "Yeah?"

"Uhm…well…you could…you could…stay at…at…the…the…" Hinata trailed off as her face turned bright red.

Naruto tilted his head. "Stay where?"

Hinata swallowed nervously and then almost shouted, "You could stay at the Hyuga compound!" She paused for a moment and then covered her mouth in embarrassment.

Naruto thought for a moment and then folded his arms. "I don't think-"

"I think it's a wonderful idea," Hanari interrupted. "With all of the help and support you've given to my little Hinata since she met you two years ago I see that this is the absolute least we can do. Give you a safe place with good food and a warm bed for a night or two while the village writhes in its own depravity."

Naruto's eyes almost became the size of dinner plates. "Y-…y-…you…you really…mean…it…?" he asked in disbelief.

Hanari smiled warmly. "Of course dear."

Naruto sprinted at the woman with a rough hug as tears began flowing down his face, the boy sobbing his gratitude into her dress.

Hanari laughed sweetly as she knelt down and ran a hand through his hair. "There, there. You needn't be so thankful for such a simple act."

"But…but…," Naruto attempted to squeeze out through his sobs. "No one's…ever been…that kind to me…"

Anko couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow, really makes you feel like chop liver, eh, Itachi?"

Itachi shrugged. "I suppose if you looked at it that way. But to him, putting yourself in what he believes is harm's way to give him shelter from the swarms of villagers is possibly the kindest act in the world."

Anko leaned over and threw an arm over his shoulder, "Aww, that's so cute. You really understand your little student, don't you?"

Itachi frowned at her, trying to hide his discomfort with her…assets…being so close to his face. ANBU or not he was only thirteen, and Anko was almost twenty.

Anko just chuckled at him as she stood up away from him. "You might want to go to a doctor, you're running a fever," she said playfully at his reddened complexion.

Itachi feigned ignorance as his focus returned to his still happy with tears student. He did happen to have a minute twitch in his lip though.

Naruto laughed with Hanari and Hinata as the three formed plans for the night Naruto would be there.

Naruto deciding to stay behind a little to receive the last step of the Rasengan.

Itachi held a balloon in his hand.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I thought I already did the water balloon part."

Itachi nodded, the balloon then bursting. "You did. But those two parts, the water balloon and the rubber ball were about rotation and power. This is about control. Your goal with this is to take what you've mastered now and get it so that it _won't_ burst the balloon. The Rasengan will be useless to you if you can't form it properly."

Naruto nodded in understanding as he took the balloon from Itachi. He concentrated his chakra into the balloon as he had before but the balloon popped almost immediately. He groaned and did it again, this time trying to tighten the rotation of the chakra; with no positive results.

He sighed and then nodded. "Okay, I think I know the basic idea of it."

Itachi nodded. "Good. I'll leave you here to train on your own. Try not to wait too long, though."

Naruto nodded as Itachi left. He formed his favorite hand sign and shouted, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" One hundred Shadow Clones burst into existence and Naruto gave the order to practice the Rasengan.

* * *

Naruto wasn't sure how long he and his clones had been training, the sun was just beginning to fall when he started and it had been dark for quite a while when he stopped.

Naruto fell backwards onto the ground panting heavily, his clones dispelled and the pieces of several hundred balloons lying on the ground in shreds. "Crap…I…couldn't…get it…once…" After a heavy sigh he sat up in frustration. "Guess I might as well go home. I bet Hanari's getting worried." He stood up, groaning from the exertion he had experienced.

* * *

Naruto walked on a different path home, circling around a few of the other training grounds, hoping to stay out of the center of town.

As he walked through the small trails around the training grounds he heard some odd sounds and decided to investigate the source, which turned out to be Training Ground Six, the spot Itachi and he used to use for training.

He skirted around the edge and peered into the training ground, where he saw two people who seemed to be fighting.

One was a young man with short brown hair, dark eyes, and dark markings under his eyes who wore the standard Leaf shinobi uniform for jonin, as well as a bandana style headband, and wielded a katana with a rectangular hand guard.

He was involved in what Naruto assumed was a sparring match, a dangerous one, with another person.

It was a young woman with straight purple hair that reached her waist, brown eyes and a dark shade of red lipstick and wore what Naruto recognized as ANBU equipment. She also used a katana as she and the man were involved in a spar.

Naruto was amazed at watching the two of them, specifically the woman.

While he recognized Itachi as skilled, he was surprised to watch how fluid the woman's movements were, she didn't spare any energy, moving just enough to escape the man's attacks, and then retaliating with just enough strength to hit him, but not enough to overextend herself.

He lunged at her with a thrust, she spun around him with a horizontal slash at his midsection. He smirked as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding her blade.

She continued her attack with another slash, diagonally up to the left.

The man grunted as he stepped back, getting a small tuft of hair cut off.

Naruto gasped in surprise and amazement, unintentionally shifting his position in the tree too much, resulting in him falling from the branch and plummeting to the earth, hard.

The duo stopped their spar and turned to see Naruto lying on the ground with circles in his eyes.

They walked over to see who exactly it was and the woman's eyes widened momentarily when she saw Naruto. '_What's he doing here? He is usually home by this hour._'

Naruto grunted as he came to, seeing the two standing above him. He scrunched up against the tree frightened. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to spy!"

The woman raised an eyebrow and then chuckled amusedly as she sheathed her katana. She then knelt down to Naruto. "It's alright, you needn't apologize. I suppose you were enjoying the spar?"

Naruto blinked in curiosity at her random kindness, he wasn't used to anyone but Itachi, Hanari, and Hinata being nice to him, and then nodded lamely. "Ah…uh…yeah. You two were really cool."

The man sighed. "Yugao, any idea why this kid is here?"

The now named Yugao stood up and shook her head. "Not particularly, Hayate. My guess is he was just wandering around and happened upon us sparring."

Hayate raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Naruto looked at the man unsurely. He gave him an odd look. Not the normal disdainful looks the village and other shinobi gave him, but more of a disinterested look that, while not cruel like most, was a little unnerving for the blonde. Hearing the question in his words after a few seconds Naruto nodded silently.

Hayate smirked. "Interested in kenjutsu are we?"

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Yeah! I'm actually practicing it a little myself!"

Yugao raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Mind showing me what you know?"

Naruto looked at her plainly. "You're an ANBU, I wouldn't stand a chance."

She raised both eyebrows curiously. Most children weren't sharp enough to spot the differences between the different ranks, or to be able to specifically identify an ANBU. She then shook her head. "Don't worry, I won't go all-out on you."

Naruto slumped his shoulders as he stood. "I don't know if I should feel happy or insulted at that."

Yugao chuckled in light amusement at the boy. She then grabbed two of the practice swords that she and Hayate habitually bring with them and handed one to Naruto.

Naruto nodded and adopted the kenjutsu stance Itachi had taught him.

Yugao couldn't hide her widened eyes. '_That's the ANBU's own kenjutsu stance. The only way he could know that is…_' She shook her head and assumed the same stance.

Hayate looked between them and then tilted his head puzzled, noticing the same thing Yugao did after comparing their stances.

Yugao smirked. "Whenever you're ready."

Naruto grinned and started, faking a forward charge when he dashed to the side.

Yugao smirked at Naruto's smart movements, though she was able to track them easily.

Naruto stopped, pushed off with one foot and charged at Yugao.

She swung her sword down to knock his sword to the side.

Naruto smirked and let her knock his blade off course but came in with a sliding kick.

Yugao was surprised at his sudden adaptation but was able to easily account for and dodge it, he wasn't even a genin yet after all. She swung her blade down to hit Naruto, but he rolled forward and ran around her. Yugao smirked in surprise. '_I see. He's using his size to his advantage._'

Naruto stopped his circling, made to lung forward but then jumped back as Yugao swung.

She actually hadn't expected that and as a result ended up losing her balance.

Naruto took advantage of this and charged forward.

Naturally Yugao was able to recover faster than he could lunge and corrected, circling around him and ending their spar by putting the tip of her sword right at the base of his neck. Yugao smirked as she lowered her sword. "I'm actually impressed. You have some good instincts and decent tactics, for a child."

Naruto twitched an eyebrow at the "for a child" remark.

"But I'd say if you continued your training you might become rather skilled." She then smiled at him in a slightly challenging manner. "Maybe you could even spar against me with a real sword someday."

Naruto grinned. "I'll keep training 'til I can, y'know." Naruto then, without thinking, Teleported out of the field.

Yugao raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She then narrowed her eyes. '_I can't be certain who…but somebody has to be training him._'

* * *

Naruto returned to his house and swiftly gathered his things, in a new form of transportation he had managed to learn called storage scrolls, specialized scrolls with a series of seals on them that store the contents inside the seal itself. He didn't understand the intricacies of how they worked, he just knew they did. And that was good enough.

* * *

It wasn't too much longer before he made his way to the Hyuga compound.

As expected the rest of the clan were not pleased with his arrival. Fortunately Hanari had set Ko out to wait for Naruto so he could pass through the halls undeterred.

Ko led Naruto to an extra room where he could stay and showed him it was situated directly next to Hanari's room.

Naruto thanked the man and then went into Hanari's room, primarily to apologize.

* * *

Hanari turned as Naruto walked into the room slightly embarrassed. She brought up her sleeve as she laughed quietly. "My, my, you sure took your sweet time."

Naruto rubbed the back of his with a weak chuckle. "Heh, heh, heh…yeah…sorry. I, uh…got…lost…"

Hanari knew he was just trying to cover it up, so she decided to play with him a little. "Oh, and where did you get lost?"

Naruto froze, he hadn't expected her to dig that far. "Well…I…uh…got…lost on…the…road of…life…yeah! Ahem, I got lost on the road of life!"

Hanari looked at him for a moment before laughing. Loudly. For several seconds. After taking a moment to catch her breath and wipe away an errant tear she looked at the boy amused. "Oh my…I haven't laughed that hard in far too long."

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Did I…say something stupid?"

Hanari shook her head with one last amused giggle. "No, no. You just reminded me of someone. It's quite alright though. I'm sure that whatever kept you busy it was for good reason. Now, Hinata and I were about to take care of some knitting. Want to help?"

Naruto folded his arms in a huff. "No way."

"Oh really? I'm certain that any woman would be thrilled to have a man that can sew. Fufu, I know I would."

Naruto sweat for a few seconds. "Ahh…crap. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"Fufufu, you're such a gentleman."

Naruto turned away with a huff and a blush, before turning back to the woman with a smile as she handed him some of the supplies and explained the process.

* * *

Naruto awoke groggily the next morning looking around puzzled. At first he didn't recognize where he was and woke up tense before remembering it was the Hyuga compound and easing up.

"My, my, you certainly wake up early."

Naruto froze and turned.

Hanari seemed to have a certain talent for simply showing up unnoticed. She stood at the edge to his room, merely smiling. "I was actually coming in to check on you. Since you're awake, why don't accompany me for breakfast?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. "After everything you've done, I couldn't eat some of your food too." He patted the bag of scrolls next to him. "I brought some with me."

Hanari giggled lightly. "It's fine, I assure you. We have enough food to feed the entire village for several days, so feeding a single growing boy for a couple meals is hardly a setback. Besides, you're our guest. We would considered ungracious hosts if we did not offer our guests proper meals and forced them to eat by themselves." A slight dark aura then developed her as she asked sweetly, "You wouldn't want to be singlehandedly responsible in tarnishing my image now would you?"

Naruto shook his head briskly.

"Good. Just follow me."

Naruto nodded just as briskly.

* * *

Breakfast was…uncomfortable for the blonde, to say the least. The food was good and the service at least seemed good.

But as he had come to expect, the room was filled with the usual hushed whispers and murmurings as normal.

"What's _it_ doing here?"

"I can't believe Lady Hanari is actually allowing that _thing_ to eat with us, let alone stay here."

"Unbelievable. We'll need an expert cleaning team after that thing leaves."

Hanari glanced down and saw Naruto's slowed pace and sullen expression, easily making the connection. After peering around the room she lightly coughed into her hand.

The room fell eerily silent.

Even Hiashi looked uncomfortable. After a short gulp he decided to ascertain the reason for Naruto's presence. In a non-confrontational way of course. He wasn't _that_ eager to see Hizashi again. "Ah…Hanari, care to explain the presence of our current…guest?"

Hanari smiled at him. A smile that reeked of, "Accept my answer and shut up." She then answered, "He is simply having a few problems so I am helping him to pass through them with little trouble."

Hiashi smiled weakly. "Ahahh…I, uh…see. In that case…I suppose we should…"

"Just let him be," Hanari said, or rather _ordered_, in a sweet tone.

Hiashi gulped and responded with a curt nod.

Naruto almost gasped. He was amazed how easily Hanari was able to turn Hiashi Hyuga, Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga clan, into a sweating, sputtering mess. He smiled astounded at the woman.

She glanced down at him, noticing his gaze and returned a warm smile.

Naruto just grinned happily and returned to his food.

* * *

Naruto Teleported to Training Ground Seven that day, partly because it was faster and safer than walking on that particular day and partly because Itachi had ordered Naruto become accustomed to using the jutsu by Teleporting around the village. An order that just so happened to go into effect on that specific day.

Splitting up his clones into their particular duties Naruto set out to perform his training for that day, which was his standard strength training.

He had continued using the gravity seals as Itachi had ordered and had since advanced to performing at a higher setting than before, five times normal gravity.

When Itachi upgraded his training to that point, at which point Naruto had achieved moving and fighting under two times normal gravity at the same level as he would under normal circumstances, able to perform fifty, one-handed, handstand pushups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred chin-ups, and able to run for ten minutes straight, after performing his other activities, with the seals on at two times normal.

So Itachi had doubled the intensity to five, which proved to be even harder for Naruto to do, as Itachi had desired, and then dropped a bombshell on Naruto. Now that he was able to move at two times normal gravity the same way he had been able to without the seals on at all, Itachi had drawn the seals on his body and had Naruto infuse his own chakra into them. That way Naruto could control them. That was because Naruto was to keep them on at all times at that point.

Naruto was not pleased at that point with that order, before Itachi explained part of the reason.

* * *

_"Naruto," Itachi began, "I am not one to normally say this, but you should feel gifted."_

_Naruto tilted his head as he sat with his now permanent seals active. "And just why is that? I'm having my abilities limited at all times now."_

_"Not technically. Your skill based abilities, such as ninjutsu and genjutsu, are relatively unaffected, they will progress and be at the same rate no matter what level you have the seals at. It's your strength-based skills, weaponry, kenjutsu, taijutsu, mere strength itself, which will receive a massive boost. With your seals activated, you will be able to perform those skills at the same level you were at all previous times. That will seemingly limit your abilities, but will actually increase them. Because the moment you release those seals, your strength will multiply immensely. You will be faster, stronger, and more agile. All of your skills pertaining to your muscles will seem to be remaining at a steady plateau to others, making it seem as though you are not getting any better. When in fact you are training at all times. By keeping those seals active you can make your body used to more strenuous conditions, making normal conditions feel easier."_

_Naruto scratched his chin in thought. "I think I get it. So instead of turning the seals off when I'm done training and returning to normal, being stronger at all times, I force myself to have to work harder most of the time, meaning I'm even stronger when they're off."_

_Itachi nodded. "More or less. You see, this is an ANBU level training tool. Most jonin aren't even aware of this tool. The main reason is that it's incredibly dangerous, much like the Shadow Clone Jutsu. If you aren't careful, increasing the levels slowly, you could very well kill yourself without trying."_

_Naruto almost gaped. "S-…seriously?"_

_Itachi nodded again. "Yes. So while your strength may appear average for an academy student right now, and perhaps even beyond that, even when your training at seal levels of fifty or more, by keeping your seals at half the level you're training at, you'll appear weaker. But with them off you will be demonstrably stronger. A shinobi's best weapon is deception. While it may be frustrating to have an enemy, or a rival or anyone, laugh at you, mock you, or say that you're weaker than you are, that is exactly what you want. If they underestimate your capabilities, they're likely to not try as hard as they can, making it easier for you to defeat them. And that is part of what this does, hides your true skills so that it's all the more surprising when you release them."_

_Naruto nodded emphatically. "Alright! Alright! I get it, I get it! That's so awesome! I'm using a training tool used by the ANBU!"_

_Itachi blinked in curiosity before sighing in amusement. '_Of course, that's the part he'd focus on._'_

* * *

So at that time, Naruto was training with five times normal gravity, finding it to be a very difficult task to merely perform five pushups, let alone the remaining exercises.

* * *

After finishing his training for the day, Naruto reduced his seals back down to two times normal and Teleported back to the Hyuga compound.

* * *

Naruto had elected to remain in his own room during the night. The main reason being the vast number of people running through the streets demanding the blonde's blood.

This had been a double-edged sword however, as he was able to hide himself well enough from the horde to not be discovered by them, but was also left alone during their hunt, only able to cover his ears while it happened.

He lay on his bed, hands over his ears and eyes snapped shut as he heard the vulgar and venomous shouts from the world outside, even when the main group was away from the compound there were still numerous other groups of villagers who frequently passed by the compound, leaving the blonde little time for mental restoration.

His eyes snapped open in reflex when he heard a knock at the door. He turned slowly towards it, his heightened sense forcing him to expect the worst.

What he got was Hanari standing in the doorway. She looked at the boy sympathetically and closed the door before making her way over to him. She sat down next to him and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "It's alright, Naruto. As long as you're here they won't be able to hurt you, even if they do realize you're here. Though that is near impossible, I can assure you."

Naruto snuggled into the woman's robe and asked lowly, "Cou-…could you…"

"Stay here for a while?" Hanari finished.

Naruto looked up at her surprised and then back at the floor, nodding slowly.

Hanari smiled and nodded. "Of course." She lightly rubbed the boy's back as she sat next to him, his breathing regulating until she realized he had fallen asleep. She smiled warmly at his sleeping form before looking back out at the sky through the window with a frown. '_Kushina…you needn't worry about him. As long as Naruto is close to Hinata, close to me, he will always have a place to call home._'

* * *

Naruto had awakened the next morning to find Hanari gone, he frowned momentarily before sitting up and looking out the window. He saw the sky was already a bright blue, meaning it was approaching noon, were it not that time already.

**'_Oy, kit._'**

Naruto blinked curiously. '_K-…kit?_'

**'_Yes. It's the name you humans use to identify young foxes. Well, one of them. I assumed that it was a passable nickname for you. It probably makes you feel better than brat or meatbag._'**

Naruto raised an eyebrow but then nodded with a smile. '_Yeah…it does. Thanks Nine._'

**'_Oy, don't get all warm and fuzzy on me Kit._'**

Naruto chuckled weakly. '_Right, right. Sorry 'bout that._'

**'_Whatever. Anyway, that woman stayed here most of the night. She actually left only a few hours ago._'**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. '_But…that would mean she hasn't really gotten any sleep._'

**'_True. Just thought I'd let you know. It seems at least one of these mongrels is watching out for you. It's tiring being the only one._'**

'_"Only one?" You mean you watch out for me?_'

**'_Course I do you little snot! You think those injuries and wounds of yours heal automatically? They only heal because I command them to. And don't think it's because I like you Kit. It's only because you remaining alive is mutually beneficial to us both._'**

'_You don't say,_' he responded dryly.

**'_Watch it. Just as easily as I can flow my chakra to heal you, I can just as easily pull away chakra to hurt you._'**

Naruto sweat-dropped. '_Oh…I, uh…didn't know that._'

**'_There's a lot you don't know. But that's not important._'**

After a short pause, the fox said, **'_Naruto._'**

'_Hm?_' Naruto responded mindlessly as he went about packing his things in storage seals.

**'_I think it's time you were told a few things. And that Uchiha's made it clear he won't do it._'**

Naruto stopped and gave a puzzled look. '_"Things?" Like…what?_'

**'_Well…for starters, the whole reason and history behind why I'm even sealed inside of you. Your parents._'**

'_M-my…parents?_' Naruto asked in disbelief.

**'_Yes. Your parents, the ones who sealed me inside of you._'**

Naruto sat puzzled for a moment before his eyes widened greatly. He then snapped them shut and concentrated.

* * *

Naruto instantly appeared before the fox, looking at it confused and frantic. "But…I heard that…it was the…Fourth Hokage who…sealed you in me."

The Nine-Tails nodded. **"It was. He was also…your father."**

Naruto fell backwards, having lost all strength in his legs. "S-so…you're saying that…my…own father…sealed you…inside…me?"

The fox nodded again.

Naruto looked down as he simply became numb.

The Nine-Tails narrowed its eyes thoughtfully. **"Naruto…"**

"…What…?" he asked weakly.

**"How are you…?"**

"What do you think?! I just found out my own father sealed you inside of me and then died! He left me all alone, knowing that the village would hate and despise me! My own father!"

That seemed to actually anger the fox. **"Watch your tone…brat. I may not have liked your father, for a variety of reasons, but I respected him. He was a very powerful man, and he lived for a single reason. To protect the woman I was sealed in."**

Naruto stopped and raised an eyebrow. "What do you…mean?"

**"Your father, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, lived and breathed to defend and protect my previous container, my previous Jinchuriki, your mother, Kushina Uzumaki. She went through everything you went through, being hated, despised and beguiled by the village."**

Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought for several seconds before looking at the Nine-Tails suspiciously. "Why? Why are you telling me this? You don't even sound like…you hated them?"

**"Che, there are only a few humans in this world I actually hate. Most of you aren't worth the energy it'd take to hate you. Your mother wasn't one I particularly like, for obvious reasons, but we lived with each other's mutual disdain. She no more wanted me inside her seal than I wanted to be in there. But what she was stuck with is the same seal you've got. Meaning that if she died, I died."**

Naruto's face suddenly lit up.

**"Don't get your hopes up. She lived just long enough for me to be transferred into your seal. The seal you've got, the Reaper Death Seal, is a very annoying seal to say the least. Under normal circumstances, when a Jinchuriki dies, so would we. However, we will eventually reform. Not with that damn thing, it feeds us to the Reaper."**

Naruto frowned in thought for several seconds. He then looked up at the Nine-Tails thoughtfully. "So…my parents sealed you inside of me with a special seal, and it's different because if the seal breaks you'll die?"

The fox shrugged. **"Mostly, but it'll also kill me if you die. Permanently. I can also be released by you or someone who understands the seal but I'll get sucked back in after a few minutes. That's what would've happened with Kushina."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'would've happened'?"

**"What I mean…is that something…or rather, some_one_ got in the way of that process."**

Naruto sighed in frustration. "I don't get it."

**"I'm not surprised. …Naruto…"**

"Hmm?"

**"Do you know why your parents sealed me inside of you?"**

Naruto shook his head with a frustrated look. "No, I can't think of anything."

**"Because, they knew you were their child."**

Naruto looked at the fox disgruntled. "What does that even mean?"

The fox sighed. **"They trusted you could keep the village safe with me inside your body. That you'd be strong enough to handle everything the village would throw at you."**

Naruto responded with a disdainful spit. "Yeah, well the only reason I have is because of Itachi-sensei and the others."

**"That's what I mean, dolt."**

Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion. "You know Nine-Tails…I really can't figure you out."

**"And what does that mean?"**

"I can't tell if you hate me or like me."

**"Neither."**

That just confused the blonde further.

**"I don't particularly like anyone, but you're not infuriating enough to hate."**

Naruto tilted his head with a moan. "Why are you telling me all this stuff anyway, Nine-Tails?"

**"Because…I promised them."**

Naruto blinked in shock and confusion. "Promised…who?"

**"_Them_. Minato and Kushina. I promised those two I'd watch over you, or, at the very least, not let you get killed."**

"But, I thought…"

**"You thought I hated them?"**

Naruto nodded dumbly.

**"I already told you, I know very few humans who are worth my hatred. Mito Uzumaki, the first woman of the Leaf Village I was sealed in, is hardly the first person I was ever sealed inside of. I have lived for more than one hundred human lifetimes, several thousand years at least. Being sealed inside of one human for about sixty years is nothing but a slight annoyance. Aside from the first person I was ever sealed in, who sealed me inside of his own body to use my power, my Jinchuriki have never regarded me as anything more than a nuisance that wanted me just as little as I wanted to be there. For them, their entire lives were spent with me in their bodies, but for me, it was usually less than fifty years I had to spend, as humans have until recently lived far less than the eighty years most live to now. Despite the tails and myths your kind have spun about me, I never went around randomly attacking villages or kidnapping 'fair maidens'. All I wanted to do was live in peace as far away from you annoying creatures as possible. The few times I have done what they've alleged are for good reason, reasons I would prefer not to get into with you."**

Naruto just sat as he listened to the fox speak.

**"It wasn't until the last hundred years or so that you humans started getting on my nerves. First were those damned Gold and Silver Brothers, then Madara and several others. Ever since Madara and Hashirama beat the stuffing out of each other at the Final Valley I've been stuck inside one of you miserable fleshbags constantly. Fortunately I was relatively lucky. Mito would have just as soon assumed I didn't exist and let me sleep until she was done and then Kushina pretty much let me do as I please inside her bizarre mindscape. She was a scary woman…ahem. It wasn't until I was sealed inside you that I got stuck in this,"** it paused as it tapped a claw against one of the bars, **"cage. And that's mostly because of the Reaper's seal."**

Naruto nodded in thought. "Hey, Nine-"

The fox stopped him by raising one of its humanoid paws. **"That's enough of calling me by that annoying title."**

"Huh?"

**"I've told you enough about me at this point I think I wouldn't mind sharing one last piece of information: my name."**

Naruto looked at it puzzled. "You have a name?"

That gave the fox a tic mark. **"Yes I have a name you little runt!"**

Naruto fell backward from the strength of his shout. "Geez! How was I supposed to know, y'know?!"

The fox sighed. **"Whatever…my name…is Kurama."**

"K-…Kurama?"

The now identified Kurama nodded.

Naruto nodded in return. "Alright…Kurama. You still haven't answered one thing: why you promised my mom and dad that you'd protect me. I mean, I know you…tolerate my existence or however you put it, but why would you actively protect me?"

Kurama shrugged. **"Several reasons. Part of it is my own safety. Under normal circumstances you dying wouldn't affect me too much, my body would reform in about nine years. But with that Reaper Death Seal I would die for good if you died. Another reason…is because your father, Minato, greatly reminded me of someone…important, that I used to know. I may be a Tailed Beast, a being that lives so long beyond human lifetimes that an entire generation can be born and then die in a matter of moments to my perception, but even I can appreciate the emotions of love. Since what most people associate _me_ with, hatred, is born out of love."**

"I-it is?" Naruto asked dumbly.

Kurama nodded. **"Yes. A person hates another because they took, damaged or destroyed something they loved. One of the abilities I have, and one I don't particularly care for, is the ability to sense hatred bore by humans. I find it petty when you creatures with such short lives hate each other for the entirety of it. So sometimes, when I'm feeling philanthropic, I show up and cause havoc. That way you idiots stop wasting time and energy hating each other."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "That seems rather…odd. You say that you don't care for humans, but then you do something like that." Naruto then chuckled. "You know Kurama, you're pretty neat."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. **"And why is that?"**

"Well…because. Everyone always says how you're a giant, evil monster. But I don't think you are. You even promised my parents to help me. And you have."

**"Che, don't get touchy feely with me, Kit. I promised because they asked me, not because of you."**

Naruto just grinned. "Yeah, but ya know you love me!"

**"Bah, you're just an annoying little brat! However, I have grown rather fond of your particularly unusual sense of self."**

Naruto blanked. "My…whatnow?"

**"It means your personality. You're surprisingly similar to that mother of yours. You seem to have that same boundless energy she did, and you have that unnatural talent to make humans find you less infuriating than dirty pond scum."**

Naruto twitched an eyebrow. "You sound so caring…" he deadpanned.

**"I never said I was. Also, one last thing. Your parents also sealed me inside of you for another reason. Not just because they knew you would be able to withstand the unjust punishment the village would and has and will give you, but because they somehow believed you would be able to change this sorry village."**

Naruto looked at Kurama curiously. "What about you?"

**"What about me?"**

"Do you think I can fix the village?"

**"Hmph, the way I see it, this village is beyond saving."**

Naruto grinned widely. "I don't think so. With people like Hanari, Hinata, the old man and Itachi-sensei in it, I think that the village not only can be save…but is worth saving."

Kurama looked Naruto dead in the eyes and then sighed. **"I see. Well, I can tell by that look nothing I say will stop you. I just wish you good luck in that task. Although…there is one last thing you may want to know before you give in to that train of thought completely."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "W-…what is it?"

**"Have you ever considered how you have a Sharingan? You certainly don't look like any other Uchiha."**

* * *

**Well, that's this chapter over with. I'll hopefully have the fourth sometime here soon. The production of this story will start to slow down once I decide to get back to work on Final Reign and will effectively stop for a while once I start back on Wagtail Shinobi.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

**Hello readers! Yes, it's time for another chapter. I just can't stop this story from flowing out of my head. More of the story finally gets going in this one so that should be fun, I hope. I don't know if I have anything else in particular I need to say so I guess I'll just give my thanks to my coauthor, seeker of true anime fan fic, and move on to reviewer responses.**

**Jose19: Neither technically. It isn't a redo of Wagtail Shinobi since the Sekirei aren't involved and it's not another point of view for the same reason. Basically it's what wagtail shinobi would be if I didn't involve the Sekirei. A lot of the Naruto-based parts of the story, that is, things that happen in Wagtail Shinobi that are part of the Naruto side of things and not Sekirei, will be the same here as there with some new additions like the harem being entirely made up of characters from Naruto.**

**bhdragons: If part of my response to Jose19 didn't tell you, yes, this will be a harem story. Really? You don't like NaruAnko? Huh, I find it acceptable, and I obviously love NaruHina. In fact, being able to do the storyline of Wagtail Shinobi with Naruto in love with Hinata, among others, is a big reason I did this to begin with.**

**Lord Hessen: You mad bro? Anyway, you'll just need to read it to find out. But, I've got some surprises in the story involving both brothers so wait for that.**

**RandomWriter21: I know that feeling. But, since I'm a writer I don't have that excuse.**

**Guest: Yes, I particularly enjoyed that part. Hanari definitely has him under her thumb doesn't she? Guess Hiashi isn't actually the one who runs the Hyuga clan, is he? Heh, heh.**

**coduss: Yes, yes I did. Thank you, thank you. It does make it seem that way, doesn't it? Yes, you will just need to wait.**

**Well, that's about it for reviewer responses so on to the actual story, hm?**

* * *

**"Have you ever considered how you have a Sharingan? You certainly don't look like any other Uchiha."**

Naruto looked down in thought. "You…have a point." He then shook his head. "I actually never gave it any thought before."

**"Well, I can tell you Minato had a Sharingan as well, he even reached the next stage."**

"Next stage?"

Kurama waved a hand. **"Not important now. However, I know the truth behind how you got it, since Minato once revealed it all to Kushina."**

Naruto gulped. "W-…what…happened?"

**"You've been studying the history of the Leaf Village, right?"**

Naruto nodded.

**"Do you remember the most major event in its history?"**

Naruto put a hand on his chin in thought. He then nodded slowly. "Hmmm…that'd be…the battle between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, right?"

Kurama nodded.

"Yeah, Madara died in that fight, right?"

Kurama nodded uncommitted. **"That's what the books say. But, according to Minato, that's untrue."**

Naruto tilted his head confused. "Why would my dad know about that?" His eyes then slowly widened to massive size as realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "T-…t-…th-…that's…i-imposs-…impossible…"

Kurama narrowed its eyes. **"I see you've figured it out. Yes, Madara Uchiha is the father of Minato Namikaze…and your grandfather."**

Naruto gaped as he looked down in shock.

Kurama looked at Naruto thoughtfully. **"So, how's it feel to be related to the Leaf's greatest vil-?"**

"Hell yeah! My dad and granddad are the most powerful ninja that ever live! This is awesome!"

Kurama face-faulted and then chuckled amusedly. **"Heh, heh, I suppose that's the kind of response I should have expected from you. Most would be worried about having Madara as their grandfather."**

Naruto just grinned. "So? Madara was Madara. I'm me. His actions won't determine mine." He pointed a thumb at himself. "My past may have created me, but it won't define me. I'll excel above and beyond Gramps, y'know!"

Kurama blinked curiously. **"I see. That's actually a rather mature way to see things. Alright then, Naruto Uzumaki, prove it. Show me and everyone how you're different from Madara Uchiha, yet share his genes."**

Naruto just grinned brightly. "You got it! I'll show everyone! You, the village, the world!"

Kurama couldn't help chuckling, then laughing. **"You're an enthusiastic one for sure! I could actually enjoy being sealed inside you at this rate!"**

Naruto stood up with a nod. "Hey, Kurama."

**"Hm?"**

"Thanks. For telling me all this."

**"Tch, don't get cozy, Kit. You need to wake up soon or that Hyuga woman will start worrying. Plus, you need to make sure your house is intact."**

Naruto nodded and faded away from his mindscape.

Kurama's smirk disappeared as he looked off to one side. A small seed was lying on the ground under the water, glowing with a weak purple light. **"So…that's where he's storing it."**

* * *

Naruto groaned as he woke up from searching his mindscape to find a specific person close to him. He sat up swiftly with a shout. "Gah! Hinata!"

The Hyuga heir fell backwards in shock at his shout, and slight embarrassment.

"Oops…sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

Hinata sat up and shook her head. "N-no…it's okay. It was…my fault for doing that."

Naruto gave a big stretch as he finally awoke. "So…what time is it anyway?"

Hinata pointed to the window.

Naruto turned and took a look. It wasn't bright outside yet but it was getting bright. He sighed and then turned back to Hinata. "Well, I guess I better get heading back and make sure I still have a house."

Hinata nodded with a small smile. "Erm, Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"It was…fun, having you over."

Naruto nodded. "Aside from the insane villagers part I enjoyed it too." With that he disappeared in a burst of smoke.

* * *

Naruto appeared in his house in a burst of smoke. He looked around and sighed in relief.

The security seals he used had worked. The area around his house was trashed, holes and dents where people obviously tried to break in, but never did.

* * *

After clarifying that he made his way to Training Ground Seven where Itachi was waiting.

Itachi turned to regard Naruto and nodded. "Good. We'll begin training now then. Hinata should be arriving after just an hour or two."

Naruto nodded and stretched.

"I'm interested in your progress with the Rasengan. Show me that and then we'll get started."

Naruto sighed weakly and began his training for the day.

* * *

Naruto was fortunate as it only took him a few more weeks to finish the last stage of the Rasengan's training.

Naruto stood with the balloon in his hand, using just that hand and his chakra to concentrate the Rasengan inside the balloon. The balloon shifted some but eventually evened out, only shifting slightly.

Itachi nodded in approval. "Good. Now, there's only one step left."

Naruto sighed as he threw down the balloon. "What's that?"

"Do what you just did without the balloon."

Naruto nodded assuredly.

Hinata and Hanari had decided to take a short break to observe Naruto's first real attempt at the Rasengan.

Naruto let out a held breath and then stuck out his right hand. Small streams of chakra began to swirl into the air above his hand. After a few seconds a small swirling of chakra formed in a loose ball. Soon more and more chakra condensed before forming into a baseball-sized, swirling and glowing, blue sphere of chakra. Naruto grinned proudly before turning to a nearby tree. He smirked and rushed at it, thrusting his hand forward. "Rasengan!" He slammed the jutsu into the tree, causing it to grind away at the bark and some of the tree itself before exploding and sending Naruto crashing. "Oof!"

Itachi smirked as he walked over to Naruto. "So, how was it? Forming the Rasengan for the first time?"

Naruto sighed and then gave a big grin as he lay down. "It was awesome! Dunno why it blew up though."

Itachi nodded then helped Naruto up with a hand. "After a few seconds of being compressed due to a strike the Rasengan will inevitably burst. If you can keep yourself stable it can be used to add extra impact to your attack."

Naruto chuckled proudly and then turned to the three observing women and gave a victory sign.

Hanari and Hinata clapped lightly, Anko just chuckled amusedly.

"Very good Naruto," Hanari praised as she stood. "I'm surprised you were able to master the Rasengan at such a young age."

Naruto grinned happily. "Well Pops invented it, so…" he trailed off as everyone looked at him surprised.

**'_You idiot._'**

'_Why, what'd I do?_'

**'_They all know who your parents are and that Minato invented the Rasengan._'**

'_What? …Uh-oh…_'

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Naruto, who told you about that?"

Naruto laughed weakly. "Eheheh…about…what?"

Itachi narrowed his eyes further, accentuating his point by activating his Sharingan. "You cannot lie to me, Naruto."

Naruto gulped. "Ah…well…you see…"

"Itachi, I think that's enough," Hanari eased the ANBU. "I'm certain Naruto merely made the logical connection. After all, they do look virtually identical."

Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and sighed. "I suppose. Very well."

Hanari nodded at his response and turned to Naruto. "But if you do ever feel like telling us otherwise please do."

Naruto nodded weakly.

"Geez Hanari, you're way too easy on that kid," Anko groaned as she stretched.

Hanari brought up a hand to her mouth and giggled sweetly, a smile that crinkled her eyes shut forming. "Be that as it may, I suggest you put down your arms. Your lack of decency is showing."

Anko blinked puzzled and then looked down. Stretching her arms had exposed her chest, covered only by the edges of her coat and her mesh suit, to the eyes of Itachi, Naruto and Hinata.

Itachi had simply face-palmed while Hinata turned away. But Naruto's brain seemed to have shut off in confusion.

Anko lowered her arms snickered playfully. "Come on Hanari, the kid's enjoying it."

Hanari then laughed again, much more sweetly. An actual mist then seemed to form around her. "You're not actually thinking of doing anything indecent to Naruto…are you?"

Anko began to sweat heavily. "Ah…I…no…I wouldn't…Hanari."

Hanari's imposing aura seemed to vanish as she lowered her hand and opened her eyes.

Naruto's brain seemed to reboot after a moment and his face turned bright red. He immediately then vanished in a burst of smoke.

Itachi just sighed. "I suppose we're done for the day."

* * *

After recovering from that specific incident, Naruto and the others returned to their normal routine of training.

A routine that lasted for a very long time.

Almost an entire year had passed during the time that they had continued training.

In that time, Naruto had started to experiment with the Rasengan, eventually managing to form it in both hands, thought he needed clones to help stabilize them both. He had also learned several genjutsus for his Sharingan, including one that Naruto thoroughly enjoyed, Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu. It was one he used often during his pranking runs on the village.

Said pranks had actually started to increase in frequency, his acts becoming bolder and bolder as he performed then.

Ranging from something simple like repainting the sign on the front of bookstore, to using a combination of Shadow Clones and the Transformation Jutsu to send a horde of clones into a grocery store that had refused to sell anything to him disguised as a small flurry of green, imp-like monsters that raided the store of meat and vegetables. And ramen.

Naruto had also started making regular appearances at Ichiraku Ramen.

About once every week he would make his way down to the small ramen shop, buying truckloads of ramen, usually exceeding ten bowls per meal.

Of course Teuchi and his growing daughter Ayame had no problems with that since that kept them paid, and usually kept Naruto broke.

One particular trip had been amusing for the blonde however.

* * *

Naruto was on his way to Ichiraku's, since, after mastering the Rasengan and "convincing" Itachi, Naruto's unofficial sensei had started giving him small weekly rewards for his leaps in training, just enough to get a few bowls at Ichiraku.

As he was walking he passed by the small pier near the river and saw Sasuke sitting there, however he noticed the ravenette seemed much more despondent than normal. So Naruto decided to cheer him up in his own way.

* * *

"Yo!"

"Gah!" Sasuke shouted, once again getting tossed into the river. Standing up and coughing some of the water out of his throat he glowered at Naruto. "What's wrong with you loser?!"

Naruto just grinned, ignoring the comment. "Just noticed you looked kind of emo, jerk."

Sasuke scoffed. "Don't worry about me, Naruto."

Naruto flopped down onto the pier. "C'mon, now that you're wet you're not sad anymore."

"No, I'm just annoyed and wet!"

Naruto chuckled. "It's better than sad, isn't it."

"Ahh, shut up! Besides…I'm not sad, just angry."

Naruto tilted his head. "Oh? What, somebody pee in your ramen?"

Sasuke looked at him in disbelief. "W-…what does…that even mean? Whatever, it's none of your business, you're not an Uchiha."

Naruto frowned at that remark. He was in fact an Uchiha, he just wasn't supposed to let anyone else know. Shaking his head he looked at the ravenette again. "Wanna get some ramen? It always makes me feel better."

Sasuke just sighed. "Look, I'm not interested in playing ninja with you, loser, or anything like that." Grumbling he turned to walk away.

Naruto wasn't please that he was just brushed off like that. His pranking side then came out as he grinned. Reaching into one pocket, he pulled out a wooden kunai and some ninja wire, tying it around the practice blade's handle. He twirled it around in the air for a few seconds before tossing it at Sasuke.

The young Uchiha had just enough time to notice the wire and kunai before it changed direction and began wrapping around him, tying him up like a doll. "H-hey! What is this!?"

Naruto grinned. "It's ninja wire."

"I know that, loser! Why are you tying me up?!"

"Because, if I can't get you to _come_ to Ichiraku, I'll just have to _take_ you to Ichiraku."

Sasuke writhed and wormed to get free. "Alright! Alright! Untie me and I'll go to this freakin' place!"

Naruto grinned victoriously.

* * *

The two arrived at Ichiraku's after only a few minutes of walking.

Naruto and Sasuke sat down on the stools as Teuchi walked out.

"Well hey there Naruto! Oh, you brought a friend."

Sasuke sat turned to the side, his head resting on the butt of his hand with an annoyed expression. "I'm not a friend, I'm a prisoner."

Teuchi laughed good-naturedly. "Well, whatever. As long as you eat ramen I don't care."

Sasuke just huffed and turned to Naruto. "Let's just get this over with."

Naruto nodded. "One Naruto Special!"

"Right!" Teuchi answered and then turned to Sasuke as he perused the menu.

Sasuke closed the little pamphlet and then ordered.

After that the two sat and waited for their ramen to arrive.

Ayame, a girl with long brown hair and matching brown eyes then walked into the main part of the stall. She smiled at Naruto and waved. "Hey, Naruto."

Naruto waved back. "Hey, Ayame. You know Sasuke?"

Ayame turned to the ravenette. "No. Never heard of him."

Sasuke face-faulted. "You could've…tried to be a little less frank."

Naruto just chuckled. "Jealous are we?"

"Of you? Go to hell loser."

Naruto frowned and stuck out his tongue.

Ayame giggled.

Naruto, his tongue still sticking out, turned to her and asked, "What's so funny?"

Ayame waved a hand before catching her breath. "You two fight just like brothers."

"There's no way I'd be _his_ brother!" they both shouted in unison.

Ayame was about to make another comment when her father walked out with two steaming bowls of ramen.

Thanking the man the two began to eat their food.

After a moment Sasuke began to speed up his eating pace.

Naruto flinched as he noticed this and then began to eat faster as well.

In response Sasuke ate even faster, to which Naruto did the same. Over and over until they had finished their bowls rather swiftly.

"Another bowl!" the two shouted.

Teuchi nodded and had two more bowls prepared in just a few minutes.

Again the two boys ate at an unruly pace.

After nearly half an hour the boys had finally finished.

Sasuke chuckled victoriously at his five bowls of ramen and then turned to brag at Naruto and paled when he saw that Naruto had a stack of ten bowls.

Naruto gave a weak victory sign and gloated, "Guess I win this one, eh, Jerk?"

Sasuke hiccupped before turning. "Oh shut up, Loser. I'll win next time."

"Right, right."

The two boys then suddenly fell over, full and unconscious.

Ayame blinked curiously as she held herself over the counter. "Should we wake them?"

Teuchi waved a hand. "Nahh, leave'em. We'll wake them later to pay."

Ayame nodded with a playful smirk before jumping down to help Teuchi clean the dishes.

* * *

Both boys walked away despondently after spending an inordinate amount of money at the stall.

As they walked away, Naruto chuckled.

"What's so funny, Loser?" Sasuke asked tiredly.

"I bet you forgot all about whatever had you down this morning, didn't you?"

Sasuke suddenly flinched. He then smirked in annoyance and amusement. "Yeah…I guess I did."

Naruto grinned. "If you don't mind, what was it anyway?"

Sasuke sighed heavily. "It's…I recently went on a hunting trip with my brother."

"You did? What for?"

"A giant wild boar. I was supposed to shoot it with my bow but I missed miserably. If weren't for Big Brother that thing would've flattened me. I felt…so stupid."

Naruto looked up in thought. "Hmm…probably."

"Why the hell did you ask if you were just going to taunt me?!"

"I meant it probably would've flattened you."

Sasuke twitched an eyebrow. "And…that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Probably not. But…I bet you still had fun, didn't you?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "How is screwing up like that supposed to be fun?"

Naruto just flashed his now trademark grin, which forced his eyes closed, giving him a very foxlike appearance. "Because you got to go hunting with your big brother. Wish I could do that."

Sasuke looked at Naruto puzzled. "You don't have a big brother?"

Naruto shook his head as he put his hands behind his head. "Nope. I don't have _any_ family actually. I live by myself."

Sasuke widened his eyes. "Oh…I see. Well…I guess it was kind of fun."

Naruto nodded and then turned to a nearby street. "This is where I split." He then vanished in a burst of smoke.

Sasuke blinked in curiosity before heading back to the Uchiha district.

* * *

It was after that when Naruto and Sasuke's supposed rivalry continued.

Sasuke was mostly disinterested in the idea, but Naruto would constantly pester him for challenges.

Most of the time Sasuke got the blonde to settle for something simple, like rock-paper-scissors.

And for the most part Naruto was fine with that. Though he did occasionally want an actual fight. But Sasuke usually worded his way out of it. Or just ignored Naruto entirely.

* * *

It was after a few months of this little rivalry that it seemed to catch the eye of someone rather unique.

"No."

"Come on!"

"No."

"Just once!"

"No."

"Grr…c'mon Sasuke! Just one little spar! You don't even know if you'll win."

Sasuke turned to Naruto lazily. "Actually…I do. And I will. So stop bugging me about it."

Naruto stood with a groan for several moments before sighing heavily. He turned around to leave when an overly excited voice began to speak to him.

"Well hello there, little ninja in training!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and turned around to see a man he assumed was a jonin who had black hair in a bowl-cut, thick eyebrows, and dark eyes who wore a jonin flak jacket that was unzipped, green jumpsuit, orange, striped legwarmers, a red Leaf headband tied around his waist. Naruto looked at the man in disbelief. '_T-this guy's…a freak!_'

The man looked at Naruto with a big smile. "Well, good to see you, little ninja."

Naruto twitched an eyebrow. "Would you stop calling me little ninja?!"

The man put a hand on his chin. "Then what should I call you…? Hmm…how about genin-to-be, young me…"

"How about just Naruto," Naruto answered plainly.

Without skipping a beat the man gave an energetic thumbs up, "Naruto it is! So what's your name?"

Naruto face-faulted. "It's Na-ru-to! Naruto! Are stupid?!"

"No. Just so filled with the flames of youth that I have a hard time keeping my thoughts straight. And if you're curious, Naruto, my name is Maito Gai! The Leaf's Great Green Beast."

"I don't care," he deadpanned.

Gai fell over dramatically before standing up and coughing. "Ahem! Anyway, I noticed you were having a little trouble with your eternal rival."

Naruto blinked. "How did you…whatever. Why do you actually care?"

Gai pointed to himself. "I myself have an eternal rival named Kakashi. We are always pitted against each other in eternal conflict to see who's best. I'm currently at thirty-seven wins thirty-six losses, so I am obviously the better rival."

Naruto made a silent "Oh" sound and nodded. "Okay. What's that got to do with me?"

Gai laughed proudly. "Simple. I believe, no, I _know_ the future of our village is you young people. As such, I think it is great that you have found your own eternal rival to struggle against your whole life. If you would like, I can teach you how to beat your eternal rival at everything. Including taijutsu."

Naruto tilted his head in thought. '_This guy's obviously insane. I've never even heard of this Kakashi guy,_' Kurama coughed, '_but he's a jonin. So he's got to be strong. I guess it couldn't hurt. If he wants to train me in some taijutsu it could be worth it, I don't really need help against Sasuke though. I'm currently winning with seven wins and six losses._'

* * *

Kurama could only sweat-drop at the blatant parallels Naruto was unintentionally drawing between him and the frog-man.

* * *

Gai took Naruto to a new training field, Training Ground Ten, and pointed ahead. "Alllright, Naruto. I said I'd show you a little taijutsu and I will. Gotta show me what _you_ got first."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "So…you mean a spar?"

"Exactly," Gai added with a thumbs up and a smirk. One that somehow actually glinted.

Naruto could only look in disbelief. He put his hands together and chanted, "It's for the training, it's for the training, it's for the training."

Gai nodded and then got into a fighting stance Naruto didn't recognize.

Naruto raised an eyebrow but shrugged and assumed his Intercepting Fist stance.

Gai immediately recognized the fighting style but decided to ignore it and gave Naruto the signal to begin.

Naruto dashed to the side in attempt to circle around Gai.

However, the man was too quick to respond and turned around with a punch of his own before Naruto could even strike.

Naruto hissed as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding the hit, but feeling the wind rush by his head from the swing. He skipped back several steps and jumped from side to the other, keeping himself circling around Gai.

Naruto tried several more times to get a hit on Gai but never succeeded, the man simply reacted too swiftly. However, Naruto did get hit once and was amazed at how much power was behind the hit.

After sparring for several minutes, Gai gave the signal to stop. "Right! You're quite good, Naruto. I'm impressed."

Naruto panted as he sat collecting his breath. "H-how…did you hit…that hard?"

Gai chuckled proudly. "Simple. It's my own, custom taijutsu style, the Iron Fist. It focuses on using chakra to enhance one's own strength and putting as much raw power into your blows as possible."

Naruto perked up as he heard that. The Gentle Fist style, which he had partially integrated into the Intercepting Fist, also used chakra in the attacks, but as an additive, not a supplement. He had to admit that using chakra to enhance your attacks made sense considering how enough of it could turn someone into a human rocket. Naruto thought for a moment and then looked at Gai. "Think you could show me? How to do that with chakra?"

Gai looked at Naruto intrigued. "So you want to become my student do you?"

Naruto was about answer to the contrary but Gai babbled on.

"I accept. I've always wanted to be a sensei. And teaching someone like you, who is so much like me, is a dream. Right! I will show you everything I know about the Iron Fist! Which is everything since I invented it."

Naruto just slumped his shoulders in annoyance. '_Geez…this guy really is crazy._'

**'_But he's strong. So it could be worth it._'**

'_I hope so._'

Gai decided to test Naruto's full strength, since he could see the remains of the gravity seals, which didn't look like too much beyond just flecks of dirt to most people.

Naruto deactivated his seals and sparred with Gai again.

Gai was honestly surprised at how much strength Naruto had unrestrained.

Naturally it was little compared to the power of a jonin, but compared to even some full-fledged genin it was quite a lot.

That made Gai's job easier since part of learning the Iron Fist was being physically strong enough to handle the strain. So he began immediately, showing Naruto the beginning basics of his own custom taijutsu style.

* * *

Itachi watched from the forest curiously. He thought that learning this third taijutsu style might not be a bad idea. As combining a taijutsu focused on anticipating your opponent's moves and countering them, a taijutsu focused on using chakra bursts as a weapon without even touching the enemy and a taijutsu style focused on raw power would result in a truly fearsome taijutsu style all Naruto's own.

As such, he made no move to stop as Naruto began training with Gai one out of every seven days of the week.

Naruto was surprised from the beginning at just how effective the fighting style was. It naturally required a strong body with powerful muscles, much more so than something like the Gentle Fist and in some cases the Intercepting Fist.

A lot of the training for the Iron Fist involved mostly basic punches and kicks, but focused on making those punches and kicks as powerful as possible. One of Naruto's favorite parts of the training was using chakra to enhance the power of his attacks. Despite it being something used his muscles, Naruto was able to utilize his Shadow Clones to learn the method of concentrating chakra in his muscles since it was more about controlling than the chakra than it was the muscles. Which was good since Shadow Clones technically didn't have any muscles.

The fighting style itself was surprisingly simplistic, considering practicing for it was just using basic attacks. But it also involved specialized movements, one of which Naruto learned after only a few training sessions with Gai.

"Well, well, my little pupil. You've grown in your use of the Iron Fist quickly. I think it's time you learned one of its basic moves: the Leaf Whirlwind."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Leaf Whirlwind? That sounds pretty cool."

Gai nodded. He pointed to one of the wooden training dummies nearby and charged at it before jumping in the air.

Naruto, who had learned to subtly activate his Sharingan by placing a hand over his eye, watched as Gai surged chakra from his feet to begin a turning motion.

Gai spun around in the air with a powerful, wide spinning kick that literally made him seem like a whirlwind. The power and rotation in the kick taking the head of the dummy he hit right off.

Naruto gasped. "That's some attack."

"Yyup! It sure is. Now, to learn it is pretty simple. There're a few hanging blocks of wood over there," he pointed to a tall tree with several carved chunks of wood hanging down from the branches, "you can use them to practice. Then, when you do finally get the chance to face your eternal rival in bloody battle you can knock him off his feet. I'm sure you already know tree-walking?"

Naruto nodded.

"Grreat! You simply use the same principle and flow chakra out of your feet in midair to spin around like a giant top of lean green destruction. Err, orange, destruction, I suppose."

Naruto grinned as Gai commented on his outfit before thinking about what he had witnessed Gai do and charged at one of the blocks of wood, jumped in the air, and threw out his right leg in a roundhouse kick, surging chakra from his foot to accelerate the spin. Unfortunately he didn't balance it just right and fell to the ground with a thud."

"Hahaha! Don't worry little buddy! You'll do better next time! That was a very good first try! Now, let's see you do it again with more youth!"

Naruto sighed as he looked at Gai lazily. '_Geez, all this guy does is babble on about youth this, youth that. If I were someone else I might start thinking this guy's a pervert._'

He then watched as Gai continued to go on one of his rants.

'_Nahhh, this guy's too stupid to be a pervert._' With a sigh he attempted the technique again and again. After only a few minutes of practice he managed to discover an alternative way to make the jutsu work. To flow chakra not just from the feet but from different parts of his body to balance out the surge and result in rotation. He still had little to no control but was getting better quickly.

"Good work, Naruto. Now, I have a youthful mission to complete, so I'll be off. But you…you should take your newfound power and run! Run off into the sunset and challenge your eternal rival!"

Naruto nearly gaped as he was suddenly standing on a rock shore in front of a sunset, waves crashing in front of the two of them. '_T-this is…_'

**'_I…can't explain this. I'm a four thousand year old fox, and I have no clue what this is._'**

After that particularly confusing event Naruto continued his training on his own.

* * *

And that way it remained for several weeks until Anko became curious as to what Naruto was actually doing during that one day a week he was gone.

As Naruto left his house later in the day, he was unaware of the shadow trailing him curiously.

* * *

Naruto ran the way towards Training Ground Ten, since he still wasn't familiar with where its exact location was yet to Teleport confidently.

This unfortunately gave the shadow the perfect opportunity to tail him effectively.

* * *

After arriving there Naruto was curious as to where Gai was but the man appearing in a large burst of smoke directly behind the blonde answered that question.

"Well, my star pupil, are you ready for more training?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup."

"Grrreat!"

Naruto just sighed as he and Gai began their training for the day.

"Alllrright! So, show me how far you've come on the developments of the great Leaf Whirlwind."

Naruto nodded. "I've managed to double the force above the regular version."

Gai nodded with folded arms. "Yes, yes. That'd be the Severe Leaf Whirlwind. There's also the Leaf Hurricane and the Severe Leaf Hurricane. If you can triple, then quadruple the power of the Leaf Whirlwind you'll have mastered all four levels of the technique."

Naruto nodded as Gai decided to test Naruto's understanding of the basic taijutsu itself.

* * *

Anko watched from the sidelines with a confused expression. '_Huh. So the kid's been getting instruction from frog-man. I guess that explains his sudden increase in taijutsu skill. That weird Iron Fist of his is so basic that it can be combined with just about anything. Guess I'll let Itachi know about this._' Satisfied with her investigation she vanished from the area.

* * *

"I see," Itachi said plainly. "So Naruto's been receiving extra instruction besides us."

"You don't think he's feeling unsatisfied, do ya?" Anko asked.

Itachi shook his head. "No. I think he just sees the value in Gai's taijutsu and is exploiting his instruction for what it's worth."

"You make Goldilocks sound so cold. Actually, I think it's because of his rivalry with your brother."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke?"

Anko nodded. "Yup. The two of them have basically turned into this generation's Kakashi and Gai. Of course, Naruto is more like Gai than Kakashi, Sasuke's usually the one to keep Naruto's enthusiasm down."

Itachi couldn't help but smile after hearing that. "I suppose that explains Sasuke's higher spirits."

"Higher spirits? Sorry but your little brother seems just as glum as always."

"Uchiha tend to be that way."

Anko nodded but then became serious. "Oy, Itachi. Who do you think told Naruto about his father?"

Itachi shook his head again. "I can't say. While some of the shinobi are aware of the connection, most would just as soon ignore Naruto than have anything to do with him."

Anko nodded again. She then widened her eyes. "Hey…you don't think it was…the Nine-Tails…do you?"

Itachi put a hand to his chin in thought. And then narrowed his eyes. "It would make sense. I've heard Jinchuriki are known to communicate with their Tailed Beasts inside their mind. However, I doubt that the Nine-Tails would become friendly with Naruto. It would most likely just try to deceive him."

Anko ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "Well…I guess you have a point." She then shrugged. "I suppose the kid will let us in on the secret when he feels like it."

Itachi nodded and then stood up, both vanishing from the field.

* * *

After a few more weeks of progressing like that, Anko, and to a lesser degree Itachi, decided it was time to force Naruto out of hiding his training with Gai.

To that end, when they entered Training Ground Seven, Naruto noticed that Anko was already there with Gai. He was slightly confused at that but didn't show his concern.

Gai turned as Itachi and Naruto entered the field. Anko had informed him of most of what had been happening with Naruto's training, but Gai still couldn't believe that Naruto was being trained by a captain ranked ANBU.

As they entered the field, Naruto waved weakly to Gai, who responded in regular Gai fashion.

"This is wonderful Naruto! You should've told me you were receiving such spectacular external training!"

Naruto sweat-dropped.

Anko then looked at him slyly. "So, why exactly were you hiding your training with Gai from us?"

Naruto gulped. "Ah…well…"

Hanari walked up to the group with Hinata beside her and asked, "Did you think we would be mad?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and chuckled weakly. "Well…a little."

"Uhuhuhu you needn't be. I think it's always best to get as much experience from as many sources as possible. I'm actually quite pleased that Maito Gai agreed to train you. That means that village isn't entirely filled with fools."

Naruto laughed weakly. '_Geez, she can sure say some biting things with a kind voice._'

"At any rate, I think it might be good for you to continue your training with Gai."

Gai nodded. "Yes! I would agree wholeheartedly! I could also train your daughter to access her flames of youth!"

Hanari subtly pushed Hinata behind her and said in too sweet a tone, "Keep your flames of youth away from my daughter."

Gai curled back some. '_Oww…that actually hurt._'

Itachi sighed. "Now that all of our current interruptions are done, shall we begin training?"

Gai nodded and then had an idea. "Itachi. If you'd like, you could take over training Naruto's clones that focus on ninjutsu. I can handle making him stronger."

Naruto began to sweat. He began to almost cry at Itachi's answer.

"That would be best. My specialty is in ninjutsu rather than physical strength after all."

Naruto almost felt betrayed that Itachi was willing to just leave Naruto with that green beast for several hours. He only had to suffer with his "youthful" personality for an hour or two a week. But now he'd be dealing with it for most days out of the week.

And so Maito Gai joined Naruto's group of friends and trainers.

For a few weeks Naruto would often find himself tired and strained from Gai's unique form of training. It was manageable at a couple hours a week but Naruto discovered quickly that doing it multiple days in a week was downright exhausting. Partly because of the training itself and partly because he added his gravity seals into the mix.

* * *

After one rather intensive day Naruto slowly made his way home, mostly hobbling rather than truly walking.

However, as he walked home he heard something that slowly made him feel a little more refreshed and became curious as to what the sound was. Flowing chakra to his ears he discovered the source of the sound, a flute.

Using his now more sensitive ears he attempted to track the sound of the flute and eventually managed to find his way to its source.

* * *

In the forest on the edge of the village he found a girl slightly older than him with long red hair and dark eyes. He merely stood silently as she played her flute for several minutes.

The sound of it relaxed him some as he listened. Unfortunately it made him so relaxed that he lost his posture and nearly fell, accidentally stepping on a branch.

The girl immediately stopped and glared, pulling out a kunai and looking around. "Who the fuck's there?!"

Naruto gulped as he sighed, a kunai impacting the tree next to him.

"You can't hide asshole!"

Naruto sighed and poked out from behind the tree, holding up his hands in an unthreatening manner.

The girl was now standing up, a hand on her hip as she scowled at Naruto. She looked him up and down. "What's a little brat like you doing all the way out here?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "Sorry…I just…heard the sound of your flute from where I was before and decided to investigate. It's a really pretty sound."

The girl widened her eyes in a light blush before turning. "Screw you! What the hell do you want?! I'm not dumb enough to believe that!"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "People don't like to hear it?"

"Tch, 'course not you dumbass." Groaning she decided to show him why. Playing her flute for another few moments, Naruto watched in surprise as three large, grotesque creatures appeared in bursts of smoke around her. One was a massive, mummy-like creature with everything but its mouth bound in bandages, even its hands, that faced backwards and had its neck practically broken. Another was a hulking monster, the largest of the three, with a bald head, bandages over its eyes, and bandages around its forearms that held in place spike-like weapons. The third was another monster with pale skin, had a dark-green, full bodysuit, hair that covered its face and wielded a kanabo.

The girl stopped playing her flute and looked at Naruto angrily, as if expecting him to scream.

Naruto's eyes widened and his mouth gaped, before he shouted, "That's so cool!"

The girl stumbled back in surprise. "Y-you're not…scared?"

Naruto shook his head. "No way, that's so awesome! So you can control these…uhm…what're they called?"

The girl sighed and then gave a faint smile. "They're called Rage Ogres. They're monsters I can summon and control with my flute."

"Really? You control them with your flute?"

She nodded, her smile having grown some as she began to play her flute.

Naruto watched in amazement as the beasts began to move, sluggishly but still moved, at her wordless commands. "Wooww…I wish I could do something like that. That's so cool."

The girl stopped playing and then looked at Naruto with a pained expression. "Well, you're the only person I know that thinks so. My own clan threw me out because of this jutsu."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know why. If you got into a battle, it'd be really great to have these guys fighting on your side. I know I'd be scared if I had to face them."

She nodded and then looked up at them. "Yeah…by the way, what's your name?"

"Naruto. What's yours?"

"Tayuya."

Naruto nodded. "Nice to meetcha, Tayuya!"

Tayuya nodded back and shook Naruto's hand. "Yeah, you're not too bad, Naruto. Maybe when I destroy the world I won't kill you."

Naruto chuckled weakly. "You're eh…joking…right?"

"Maybe." She then snapped her fingers and the Rage Ogres vanished. "So, want to hear some more?"

Naruto nodded happily as Tayuya began to play more tunes on her flute.

Naruto and Tayuya stayed in that spot as Tayuya played her flute and Naruto told her about some of the different pranks he'd pull around the village from time to time.

The two decided to leave when the sun had gone down.

As Naruto walked away, **'_Heh, guess history repeats itself._'**

'_How's that?_'

**'_Because your mom originally fell for your father when he told her he like something about her that most people hated._'**

'_Is that so…well whatever. I'm hungry!_'

**'_You're so thick._'**

* * *

Naruto continued his training after that, and even met with Tayuya several more times as well, listening to more of her music and the two telling each other stories about their homes.

Naruto asked Tayuya where she was from one time but she just told him it was a place that no longer existed. He was rather befuddled but didn't pursue the matter.

* * *

One day, Naruto had decided he needed some new clothes. As a combination of his growth and his training making him a little more muscular than before, Naruto was starting to realize he needed bigger clothes. Naturally trying to get clothes the standard way failed miserably.

People either wouldn't sell him the items they had to offer, would sell them at extreme price hikes, or would only sell him the dirtiest, rattiest clothes they had to offer.

Naruto did eventually seem to get lucky though. With a combination of the Transformation Jutsu and good acting, Naruto was able to find a few items he liked at reasonable prices.

Due to how cheap they were, he bought multiples of a singular outfit with a few other items. The outfit he bought multiples of was one he absolutely loved but he quickly discovered the others, did not. It was an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders and around the waist, a white swirl with a tassel on the left shoulder, a red swirl marking on the back, a large white collar, and orange pants. He had also bought something he personally liked, a pair of green goggles. Itachi thought that the goggles were an odd choice but Naruto had explained that since the lenses were so dark he could pull them over his eyes and activate his Sharingan without having to cover one eye or the other.

Itachi was honestly surprised at how well-planned out that specific choice was.

After managing to get most of the others to stop complaining, minus Gai who found no problem with the outfit, Naruto had resumed regular training.

However, one particular incident had caused a shift in the group.

* * *

Naruto was sitting atop the Hokage monument, specifically his father's head, as he was lost in thought.

Another attack had been made on Naruto the night before. It was still several months before his birthday, when the situation became the most severe, but he still had the occasional assault launched at him.

This one had happened late at night after Naruto had accidentally spent too much time with Tayuya.

Ironically, after the man insulted him for hanging around with the "Flute Demon" Naruto had discovered that she was also part of the reason he was attacked. Unfortunately, he felt that her association with him was too dangerous and he had told her he would need to stop coming around for her own safety.

After showing her ire at him for the remark she had stormed off.

So not only was Naruto still recovering from an injury, he hadn't acted quickly enough when the man attacked him and got a powerful strike to the ribs that was still healing, he was also feeling like dirt since he had hurt Tayuya.

After releasing a heavy sigh he looked up when something hit his head softly. Then a water droplet landed in his eye. Wiping the water away he moaned, "Great. So now I'll be _wet_ and hurt. Guess it just adds to the crappy day I've had, eh, Kurama?"

**'_Perhaps. Or maybe you just suck right now._'**

"Yeah, maybe."

**'_Hey, Kit. Why are you talking out loud right now?_'**

"There's no one here. Besides, trying to talk to you with my mind gets confusing. And tiring."

**'_Whatever. So, think you'll really never see that flute girl again?_'**

Naruto sighed. "I'm not sure. She seemed pretty mad when she ran off. That stupid Ogre with the club hit me hard. And my rib had almost healed too."

**'_She did give you a whipping, didn't she?_'**

"Yeah, real funny fur ball. What about you?"

**'_Me? What about me?_'**

"Well you're like, what, four thousand years old or something?"

**'_There abouts. Why?_'**

"You ever have trouble with people like this?"

**'_I'm a giant nine-tailed fox with bright orange fur, I usually do, or I suppose _did_ as it were, my best to avoid humans. Although…I did experiment with transforming into human forms a few times._'**

"Really? Like what?"

**'_I don't remember. Happened a long time ago. I remember a couple though. My personal favorite was a man with long red hair and bright red eyes. I only used that form a few times though, it scared people and was just more trouble than it was worth._'**

"Well considering someone with red hair and eyes _would_ be terrifying to most, I can imagine."

**'_Hmph, this coming from the blue-eyed blonde that can turn his eyes red with little markings inside._'**

Naruto hung his head in frustration. "You got me there."

"Naruto?"

Naruto froze and turned around to see Hinata behind him. "H-…Hi…nata. What…do you need?"

Hinata, who had also changed her attire in the passing months to a cream-colored, hooded jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and upper left sleeves, and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants, looked at Naruto curiously. "Who are you talking to?"

**'_See Kit, told you that was a bad idea._'**

Naruto gulped and glanced off to the side. '_D-do you think…I should…tell her. You know, about you?_'

**'_Doesn't matter to me either way. You could also just as easily cast a genjutsu on her to make her forget about all this._'**

Naruto frowned. '_You know I couldn't do that._' Naruto sighed and then looked at Hinata. "Well…I guess it's time you learned…huh?"

Hinata turned bright red. "L-l-learned…!? A-a-about…what?!"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion and then also turned bright red. Waving his hands wildly he shouted, "Not that! Not that!"

Hinata seemed to calm down just a little. "O-oh…o…kay."

Naruto sighed and patted the spot next to him on the monument. "Not scared of heights are you?"

Hinata shook her head.

Naruto nodded in acceptance. He then sighed and looked out on the village. "Hinata, have you ever wondered why the village hates me so much?"

Hinata tilted her head in thought. "I've…thought about it a little. Why do they?"

Naruto sighed again. "Do you know what happened almost ten years ago?"

Hinata put a hand on her chin. "Do you mean…the Nine-Tails' attack?"

Naruto nodded.

"Yes. The Fourth Hokage fought and killed the Nine-Tails in order to defend the village, right?"

Naruto nodded uncommitted. "Sort of. The Fourth Hokage _did_ fight and die against the Nine-Tails, but he didn't kill it."

"Why?"

"Because, you can't. It's part of a group of monsters called the Tailed Beasts," Kurama growled at the monster comment but knew it got the point across, "and they can't be killed. Not permanently at least."

Hinata tilted her head puzzled. "Then…what did he do with it?"

"He sealed it."

"Sealed it?"

Naruto nodded. "Yup. Most Tailed Beasts can be sealed inside of objects, like special talismans or stones, but not the Nine-Tails. It's too powerful. Only a human body is powerful enough to hold it."

Hinata raised an eyebrow curiously before her eyes started to widen.

Naruto noticed this out of the corner of his eye. He tightened his fists as he continued. "I see you've already figured it out. Yeah, it's me. I'm the one the Nine-Tails is sealed inside of." He then turned to Hinata, expecting to see fear, disgust, betrayal or a combination of the three on her face. Instead, and puzzlingly, he saw thought and confusion. "Uhm, Hinata?"

"Naruto…"

"Y-yes…?"

"You said it's sealed inside of you, right?"

"Ah…yeah…"

"So…you're its cage?"

"Uhm…yyes…"

"Which means…" she paused as she smiled lightly, "you're protecting the village from it."

Naruto's eyes shot wide. He was frankly floored by that response. He had expected many responses. Many different answers. But not that. Not that one. Naruto looked at Hinata in shock.

Hinata looked at Naruto in confusion and worry. "N-…Naruto?"

"Y-you…"

"'I'…what?"

"You don't think…I'm a monster?"

Hinata gasped. "W-w-why would I think that?!"

Naruto sat back and then looked out at the village. "They all think I'm do. They think that because the Nine-Tails is inside me, that it _is_ me."

Hinata shook her head. "I don't think so. You're too nice Naruto. You're too warm and kind. You're always so upbeat. I see how the village looks at you and treats you. And yet…you're always smiling. I don't know how, but you do. Someone like that can't be a monster."

Naruto's eyes widened and then began to fill with tears. "H-Hinata…you…"

Hinata then reached over and hugged Naruto.

Naruto flinched at the contact, not expecting it, and hugged her back.

After a few seconds they pulled apart, Hinata's face bright, almost molten, red. "Uhm…Mommy always says that when someone's sad or crying, that a hug makes them feel better. So…"

Naruto just grinned brightly, tears still falling silently from his eyes. "You bet, Hinata! I feel great, y'know!"

Hinata nodded as well. "I'm glad. But…do you think…we could not tell Mommy?"

Naruto just grinned. "Don't worry, I won't."

Hinata nodded slowly.

Naruto sighed and then looked up. "It's starting to rain pretty hard. Think we should get back?"

Hinata nodded as Naruto stood up. She did as well.

Naruto put his hand on her shoulder and grinned. "I've got a quick way home." Both then disappeared in a burst of smoke.

Neither of them ever became aware of the mischievous lavender eyes that had observed them the whole time.

* * *

To Naruto's further surprise, Hinata and he had actually become closer friends after he revealed Kurama's existence to her.

Hinata had also started inviting Naruto over to the Hyuga compound for meals every once in a while as well.

Since the food was so good and he didn't have to struggle himself to make such less than average food he agreed.

Though he also found being around Hanari also made him happier. He didn't understand why though.

* * *

Naruto continued to train with the others, getting much stronger at a faster rate thanks to Gai's, or as he called him Bushy-Brow-sensei's, special training regimen. Although he never did see Tayuya again.

He continued his weekly trips to Ichiraku and noticed Ayame began to join in cooking the food with Teuchi and thought hers tasted really good as well.

Something that seemed to nearly cause the girl to faint to his confusion.

He found himself in a tough situation, however, when his birthday came around again. To his surprise, Hinata and Hanari yet again offered him solace at the Hyuga compound. Naturally he took them up on their offer, locking his apartment up with seals again to ensure no break-ins before taking up his momentary residence at the Hyuga clan's compound.

Like before Naruto stayed holed up in his given room, attempting to drown out the shouts and bellows from the outside.

And like before, Hanari had come to comfort him during that period of time.

Just her mere presence made Naruto feel safer, enough that he passed out into sleep almost instantly after she arrived.

Unlike before, Naruto had actually spent a few more days in the Hyuga compound after that, but left after that point, mostly of his own volition since he was beginning to feel like a freeloader.

He entered another few months of regularity after that, training most days out of the week, taking a day or two out to rest, near-constant competitions with Sasuke, the two somehow keeping an even score with one win each time, neither getting more than one win ahead of the other.

He did end up having a rather unusual encounter that, while it had little effect on him at that time, would have repercussions later.

* * *

In the early spring months, the citizenry of the Leaf Village were busily going about their usual routines.

In amidst this hustle and bustle, was a specific person that was snaking her way through the streets as she looked around the village curiously.

She was a fairly tall woman with long, maroon, wavy hair that reached down to her waist, blue eyes with a ring in the middle, fair skin, and a beauty-mark under the left side of her lip. She wore a shoulder-less, dark-pink, gi-like shirt with several stripes going down the middle, loose arm warmers that reached her upper arms, two simple earrings, and light-purple spandex shorts.

The woman wandered around the village, looking around at the different shops and restaurants, gaining the attention of many men, and the ire of many women, as she wandered the streets. There were many slaps delivered that day in the Leaf Village.

As she continued wandering the village she made her way to the training grounds.

It was a place civilians were technically not allowed to enter but most of the shinobi didn't seem to have an issue letting her by, for various reasons.

As she wandered around that area she eventually stumbled upon Training Ground Seven.

Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed the severe amount of devastation in the area.

Namely spots and areas on the ground and trees where areas almost a foot wide had been seemingly ground out.

She soon seemed to discover the source of the devastation, an unconscious and exhausted Naruto lying on the ground in the center of the field.

She wandered over to him and smirked slyly. '_My…to cause this much devastation he must have some large chakra reserves. I wonder what they would taste like…_' She then knelt down next to Naruto leaned in, lightly sliding her tongue along his cheek. She sat back and flushed as she was filled with the sensation of Naruto's chakra. '_So…much chakra. And wind chakra as well. The sensation, the taste…it's almost…intoxicating. Huhu, I can't imagine what it would be like to suck every last drop from his body._'

Naruto had immediately snapped awake, somebody randomly licking you would do that, and he scooted against a tree swiftly.

The woman seemed to be brought out of her delusions by his actions and looked at him with a confused then sly expression as she stood up. "My, you certainly caused quite a bit of damage, didn't you?"

Naruto sat holding a hand against his cheek while shivering. "Nevermind that! Why the hell did you lick me lady?!"

Wiping a finger along her lips playfully, she answered. "Oh? I can taste someone's chakra that way. Yours is quite enticing."

Naruto looked at her puzzled. "You just keep away from my chakra lady."

She laughed playfully. "Don't worry, you're not quite old enough yet. By the way, I do have a name. It's Fuka."

"F-Fuka? Uhm…okay."

"And yours?"

Naruto stood up abashedly. "Oh, right, Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

"I see, I'll be sure to remember your name."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"No particular reason." Fuka then paused and looked around. "Mind telling me where all this damage came from?"

Naruto blinked but then answered, liking to brag. "I've actually been trying to get the hang of a new jutsu."

"Is that so? Mind if I see it?"

Naruto shrugged and stuck out his right hand, stabilizing it with his left as chakra condensed into it. It turned into the Rasengan but the n kept getting bigger until it doubled in size. Naruto grunted as he felt it already destabilizing and turned to slam it into a tree. "Giant Rasengan!"

The jutsu exploded and sent him flying, right into Fuka, knocking them both down.

Naruto apologized as he stood up, Fuka waving it off as she stood. "No, I'm not injured. That's quite a jutsu you have there, Rasengan was it?"

Naruto nodded with a grin. "Yeah, the Giant Rasengan actually."

"I see. That's impressive."

Naruto nodded again. "Yeah! Uhm…miss Fuka?"

"Please, Fuka is fine."

"Er, right. Why are you here anyway?"

Fuka responded swiftly despite not expecting him to actually ask that. "I merely got lost and then found my way to this spot."

Naruto shrugged. "I could show you the way back to the village if you want."

"That would be great actually."

Naruto nodded and led Fuka to the village proper, not entering himself though.

"Aren't you going to escort me?"

Naruto laughed weakly. "I would, but most of the villagers hate me. But don't worry, I'll become Hokage and prove'em wrong!"

Fuka had to think for a moment before chuckling. "Ah, I see. Well, good luck with that, Naruto." She waved casually as she walked away.

As she neared the edge of the village, she looked back over the village with a smirk. '_So, it seems there might be one thing worth saving in this doomed village._'

* * *

Naruto had elected not to tell the others about his unusual encounter, for various reasons but mainly because he figured they wouldn't believe him.

He never did see the woman again after that and merely continued his training with Itachi and the others.

However, he began to notice something strange.

Itachi was starting to be more and more absent from their training. He was beginning to be there less than four days a week. Naruto attempted to get an explanation from Itachi but he had no luck with the situation.

It was when he asked Hanari that he began to understand matters a little more.

Hanari sighed as she signaled Naruto to sit next to her, he was staying at the Hyuga compound since it was his eleventh birthday. He did and Hanari ran a hand down his back as she spoke. "You must excuse Itachi. He is not trying to neglect or push you away. There is simply tension between his clan and the Hokage. So until that matter is resolved he will be away from our training sessions for a while."

Naruto nodded with a heavy sigh. "Alright."

Hanari smiled warmly as she hugged the boy to her. "It will be alright Naruto. Regardless of what happens you will always have a warm place to stay here. I will make sure Itachi gets back to his proper training soon."

Naruto nodded with a smile and snuggled himself closer to the woman.

* * *

Unfortunately, as the weeks passed Itachi became even less involved with the training.

Naruto sighed again as Itachi, or more specifically a clone, offered his apologies before disappearing.

"It's alright Naruto," Hanari consoled.

Naruto sighed as he flopped down on a nearby rock.

"Itachi has his reasons as I said before."

"I know…but it just stinks that he's gone so much now."

"Are you saying you'd rather spend time with him than me?"

Naruto paled. He wasn't very advanced in the idea of talking to women, or people in general, but he'd been around Hanari long enough to know her dangerous tone of voice. Hoping to stave off the crippling KI that she levels at Hiashi on a daily basis, he shook his head furiously.

"Good," Hanari said snappily. She then changed the subject. "Naruto, you'll be joining the academy soon, won't you?"

Naruto looked up in thought. "Oh yeah…I will. Heh, heh, I can't wait to show up everyone."

Hanari narrowed her eyes. "Naruto."

"Yeah?" he responded. Though he tensed up some when he saw the distant, almost cold look in her eyes. "W-…what is it?"

"This is going to sound cruel, but you need to present yourself as less than you're actually worth in the academy."

Naruto stood up and almost glared at her. "Why?!"

"Because," she said shortly, "you know how foolish this village is, and that extends to the teachers in the academy as well. I imagine they will try and sabotage you and your progression. Fortunately you've already moved beyond most of what you would learn in the academy, but you can't show them that. I feel if they knew how skilled you truly are, even Itachi and myself would have a hard time protecting. And…that goes double for your Sharingan. Aside from those who are most important and most trusted to you, nobody in the entire world can know you have it."

Naruto began to wilt at her words. He didn't see much point in having all these powerful abilities if he wouldn't use them.

Hanari was able to read that plainly on his face and sighed as she sat down next to him. "Naruto, can you answer something for me?"

Naruto nodded weakly.

"Why do you think people become ninjas?"

Naruto looked at her puzzled. "Well…to fight and use powerful jutsu against enemies."

Hanari sighed in minor frustration. "Of all the things he's taught you, I'd assumed he'd teach you that."

"Teach me…what?"

Hanari looked at him warmly. "Naruto, what I'm about to tell you is important, alright?"

He nodded, listening to her intently, going so far as to activate his Sharingan so he wouldn't miss any of what she said.

Hanari had to chuckle at his enthusiasm. "A shinobi's purpose isn't to show off, or to fight necessarily. It's to protect. It's to protect people, places, ideals. To protect those things from people who want to hurt or break those things. A shinobi fights, not for the sake of fighting itself, or for the sake of fame or glory, but because fighting is the only way to protect what's precious. In fact, until you have something that's precious to you, you can't unlock your full potential; since a shinobi's, no, a _person's_ true strength is unlocked when they have something ultimately precious to them that they want to protect, to the point that they'd be willing to stare death in the face to protect it, sometimes even from itself."

Naruto just drank in her words. He then grinned. "So…you mean like you?"

Hanari tilted her head. "Pardon?"

"Well, you said a person is only really strong when they have something to protect. Well, I want to protect you."

Hanari couldn't help the light flush that hit her cheeks. She then laughed warmly.

Naruto puffed his cheeks, unsure of why she was laughing and feeling mildly insulted.

After calming down she looked at him with a serene smile. "Yes. I suppose…that is true."

Naruto ignored his previous feeling of insult and just grinned happily.

Hanari then pulled Naruto into a warm hug.

Naruto was slightly confused at the act but hugged her in return.

"You are so warm and caring Naruto. You have a light within you I'm sure will guide many." She pulled back to look him in the eyes as she said, "I'm certain it will be hard, but try, no matter what the world tries to do you or throws at you, try not to let that light die out. I can see it will be very important to many people, and it is also important to you as well. So try not to let the darkness of this world extinguish that light, okay?"

Naruto looked at her puzzled, not entirely certain what she meant, but he raised a hand in the air and cheered, "You got it, Hanari!"

"Good boy," Hanari said softly, before leaning in and kissing Naruto on the forehead.

Naruto just blinked in confusion before his face was overcome with possibly the dumbest smile Hanari had ever seen.

She couldn't suppress the rather loud and almost boisterous laughter that escape her lungs as the boy seemed to just sway in the wind in front of her. As she laughed, a thought came into her mind. '_I've never had so much fun with anyone._'

Naruto wasn't certain exactly why she was laughing, and he honestly didn't care in that moment.

* * *

Another few weeks passed and Naruto did end up joining the academy, in the same class as several people he already knew including Hinata, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji and those two girls who were part of the massive horde trying to mow Sasuke down a while back. He found them quite noisy.

Just as Hanari had predicted, the teachers there actively tried to sabotage Naruto's development. Those specializing in taijutsu taught him improper stances and movements, sometimes just making up complete and random crap Naruto was certain he'd notice even without his already existent training, just because it was so different than everyone else. And to top it all off, when he did sometimes purposefully screw up badly to test their limits, they praised him.

Though Naruto was surprised that one teacher who, while not necessarily seeming to like Naruto, didn't outright hate him like the others. So that was something.

* * *

Naruto continued his training, at this point Gai had also left due to constraints with the village, and Itachi was almost entirely absent now, and the few times he was there, even Naruto noticed the mild distraction Itachi exhibited.

Anko and Hanari remained actively training him though. However the blonde wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse since Anko's unique methods just scared the hell out of him and Hanari made certain Naruto wanted to get things just right, otherwise her nasty KI made an unwanted appearance.

Naruto also began to notice Sasuke was no longer performing their rivalries anymore. He had just assumed it was due to Sasuke being busy with the academy, after all he hadn't received the same kind of special instruction Naruto had.

* * *

However, what little happiness and stability Naruto had left in his life was coldly snatched away from him one night.

Itachi had managed to show up for his daily training that day, and Naruto noticed Itachi had a smile on the entire time, one that seemed all too forced.

Naruto was obviously thrilled that Itachi had made it to their training, but what he had told Naruto afterward severely puzzled and worried the young blonde.

* * *

After finishing up training for the day, Itachi pulled Naruto aside and knelt down in front of him. "Naruto, I need you to listen carefully."

Naruto nodded slowly.

"You need to keep up with your solo training, as well as your strength training and jutsu training, though it will be much harder doing it on your own," Naruto's placid expression turned to confusion, "you should also start using higher placid levels on your gravity seals, so that you're not forced to consciously reduce your strength while at the academy. Also, don't let anyone know about how skilled you are, or how powerful I've become," Naruto's confusion turned to worry, "don't let anyone know about your training or your Sharingan, but most of all," Naruto's worry had turned into near crying sadness, "dissociate yourself from me as much as possible."

Naruto finally burst out, crying somewhat as he shouted, "Why?! Why're you telling me all this?! Won't you still be here to train me?! To help me?! Why will I need to worry about solo training if you're here?!"

Itachi smiled at Naruto and raised a hand, extended two fingers, and then lightly poked Naruto's forehead. "Because, I'm going to be gone for a while, and I don't know when I'll be coming back."

Naruto just stood in front of his teacher sobbing.

"So, keep up with your studies, even while I'm not here. And try to pay more attention to what the teachers tell the other students, rather than what they tell you. But keep your involvement with me completely hidden for as long as possible."

Naruto reached to grill Itachi for more answers but Itachi suddenly vanished with a Teleportation Jutsu. Naruto just stumbled around dumbly before realizing Itachi had gone somewhere else. With as late as it was getting and with little else to do, Naruto merely returned home, dragging his feet behind him from sadness and confusion.

Lying down on his bed he hoped his answers would be given in the morning. He couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

Naruto awoke groggily as he looked around lazily. "Geez…really overdid it last night."

**'_The fact that I had to spend the whole night repairing your left leg is proof enough to that you fool._'**

'_Aah shaddup._' He wandered over to the door and saw something he had come to expect, the newspaper stuck under the door. He never quite figured why he was able to regularly get it each day, but he did, so he didn't mind.

Mindlessly he picked it up and tossed it on the table, preparing to read it later as he readied his breakfast. He glanced outside as he did and noticed it was bizarrely quiet and still. Usually the area was bustling with people running back and forth and shouting out to hawk their stuff. But today he just felt was different. The entire village almost felt somber.

He disregarded it though, the village always felt that way to him.

* * *

After preparing his breakfast, Naruto sat down at the table and decided to glance the paper, as a child he found little interesting beyond the cartoons but occasionally got to read reports on things like ninja missions or things like that. However, his heart stopped when he saw the front page, dropping it in shock.

Kurama could sense the emotion coursing through Naruto's mindscape. Narrowing its eyes, Kurama scanned the last couple seconds of Naruto's memories, and then snarled in frustration.

The front page read, "Uchiha clan slaughtered in the night. Only one survived. Itachi Uchiha suspected."

Naruto could only sit and tremble in shock and horror. "N-…no…it…can't…be…"

Kurama sighed. **'_Shit. So…he killed his clan, eh?_'**

"This isn't something to take so lightly dammit!"

* * *

Naruto appeared in his mindscape, just hoping to get some solace. Sadly the emotions and physical effects transferred.

Kurama narrowed its eyes again. **"So, do you believe it?"**

Naruto just looked at his reflection in the water. "I…don't know. Wait!" He thought back to last night. He shot up and looked at Kurama. "You don't think…he was…"

Kurama sighed and looked at Naruto pointedly. **"He probably was."**

Naruto stumbled and then fell backwards. "So…that's…what he meant. He was…planning this…?" Naruto curled up on himself as he felt many emotions colliding. Confusion. Hurt. Betrayal. Loss.

Kurama sighed and then looked to the side. Kurama hadn't noticed it until recently but that glowing seed had grown. It was now a glowing, purple sphere roughly the size of a basketball. And it was pulsing now. Slow, steady pulses like a heartbeat. Kurama narrowed its eyes as it examined the sphere and then turned back to Naruto, who had seemingly become numb. **"Oy."** No response. **"Oy."** Nothing. **"Oy, Kit!"**

"…What…?" Naruto responded weakly.

**"It won't do you any good to just sit here."**

Naruto glared at the fox. "Then what do you suggest I do?" he asked in a near growl. "My sensei, who was practically a brother to me, just slaughtered his own clan and turned into a rogue ninja!"

**"Who's the survivor?"**

Naruto paused in thought.

**"Perhaps that one lone survivor knows what happened. If you find them maybe you can find some of the answers."**

Naruto stood up determined. "Yeah. You're right." Naruto nodded and disappeared from the mindscape.

* * *

He reappeared in his apartment, still physically weak. He stood up slowly as feeling returned to his limbs. Teleporting away immediately he made his way to the Uchiha clan district.

* * *

What he found there was not very inviting.

Two ANBU stood at the gate, yellow caution tape draped over the entrance. Naruto couldn't see far past them but he could see far enough to see several ANBU and general cleanup specialists moving heavy black bags. Body bags.

One of the ANBU, who Naruto recognized as Cat, looked at him puzzled. She titled her head and then looked over at her comrade.

He just shrugged and she walked over to Naruto and wordlessly ordered him to leave, though not rudely.

Naruto frowned and turned to leave.

* * *

After ducking behind an alleyway he decided to try getting into the district from above.

No go. There were ANBU stationed at every corner of the gates. They would spot him instantly even if he Teleported, since his Teleport speed was only about the same as an ANBU's running speed, making him a sore thumb to the ninja, most of whom looked ready to kill at a moment's notice.

Naruto sighed in resignation.

"You're looking for Sasuke, aren't you?"

Naruto turned in surprise, Cat behind him. He looked at her puzzled and noted her voice sounded oddly familiar, but disregarded it and focused in on her words. "So…Sasuke's the survivor?"

She nodded. "For now he's been transported to the Leaf hospital for observation. You can't visit him yet. In a few days though."

Naruto dropped his shoulders, he didn't want to wait that long.

Cat, who was actually Yugao, narrowed her eyes under her mask and saw the evident confusion on Naruto's face. Though she herself was confused as to why he was so concerned. So she decided to feed him what little she could. "It's true, you know."

Naruto looked at her weakly, though puzzled.

"It was Itachi who did this." She then looked over the edge of the roof into the parts of the district she could see from that position. "No one knows why though." She then turned to Naruto with a posture that denoted the stern look she had under her mask. "Now, I've already told you probably more than I should have. Go back home and wait until you can visit Sasuke in the hospital. Although I can't guarantee he'll want to do any talking."

Naruto nodded slowly and vanished in a burst of smoke.

Yugao tilted her head. "The Teleportation Jutsu? Most aren't taught that until they reach genin. Though he seemed far too skilled when we sparred. I suppose I'll find out eventually." With practiced ease she jumped from the roof to the ground.

* * *

Naruto for once did as he was told, returning to his house and waiting until Sasuke would be released for visitation. That was his original plan anyway. However, after three days, he eventually just crumbled into his own sadness and just never left his house at all.

After four days, he heard a knock at the door that night. He glanced weakly at the door and walked over mindlessly to it and opened the door.

Hanari was standing there with a worried expression. An expression that soon turned into pain as she looked at Naruto.

He looked tired. His skin had considerably paled due to four days of remaining in his house, presumably getting little sunlight, and even under his baggy tracksuit she could see that he was thinning. '_Has he even eaten?_' She looked around and began to worry even more. Her worry turned into full-blown fear when she saw his face. He looked removed and almost broken, his eyes seeming dull. She dropped to her knees and wrapped the boy in a hug. "Oh, Naruto…I'm so sorry."

Naruto looked at her puzzled and too confused to do much of anything beyond just weakly hug her back.

Hanari and Naruto sat like that for several minutes before Hanari gently stood up. She looked at Naruto with a forced smile. "Alright, you go sit down, I'll prepare you a meal."

Naruto nodded weakly and shuffled over to his bed and sat down, still looking down in a mostly disengaged look.

Hanari sighed and looked through the items he had and attempted to prepare him a fitting meal, one that wouldn't be too hard on his stomach at that time. She knew that what Naruto was feeling wasn't as bad as the death of a loved one, like she had experienced with others, but to Naruto, his whole world literally revolved around Itachi for several years. While it was true others like herself and Hinata had found their way into it, it was all through Itachi. So while she knew the pain he felt wasn't the same level of pain as someone important dying, Naruto was feeling what was most certainly betrayal among other things.

After preparing the easily digested meal, a simple vegetable soup with a glass of water, she handed it to Naruto.

The blonde looked at her as though he had no idea what to do with the odd, steaming bowl of food in front of him. After a moment it seemed to click and he took it from her slowly and began to eat just as slowly.

Hanari also ate a bowl of the same soup, as she had cooked enough for two, and finished hers in a reasonable amount of time. She looked over at Naruto and frowned, he had barely eaten two thirds. That was definitely strange since in a normal meal Naruto would have easily downed ten bowls of the food.

She sighed and took it from him, resting it on the nearby table. She then turned to look at him with a sad smile. "I apologize Naruto, but I must be going, I do still have duties with the Hyuga clan." As she turned to leave she felt something lightly tugging on her kimono. She turned back around and saw Naruto standing behind her, looking at the floor and loosely holding a tuft of her clothing.

"Please…" he eked out, "…don't go…"

Hanari gave a pained expression but then morphed into a sympathetic smile. "Alright Naruto. I will stay." She turned and ushered him to his bed where she sat down beside him. She lightly wrapped her arms around him and held him in a warm embrace. "It will be alright, my sweet Naru."

* * *

**Well, that ends this chapter. So the clan massacre's happened and I think a few readers who are here from Wagtail Shinobi and have good inferring abilities can probably guess what's coming next. Or you won't, no clue. Anyway, the next chapter will be a little delayed for a variety of real world reasons, and reasons related to other stories, so wait for it if you can. And, don't forget, if you have any burning questions you can't wait to get answered you can always PM me. I'm more than happy to answer any questions about the story there that I can't answer here as long as you're willing to accept the spoilers that come with those answers.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

**Hello everyone, it's finally time for the newest chapter of Destined Dynasty. I apologize for the break, some things came up and writing on any of my stories stopped for a while. But, I finally managed to get it done and here it is. I'd like to give thanks to my coauthor, seeker of true anime fan fic, as usual. Guess there isn't a whole lot else to say here so might as well move on to the reviewer responses.**

**TheBeastofFairyTail: Yes. Yes I did. Because we're sadists. But really, it's just an important part to the story. As with all things in my stories it will be resolved eventually. She probably would once she shows back up. Adopt him? That's an interesting idea. I might give that some thought.**

**firetemplar415: Glad you liked it. You can probably guess where she is if you know her role in canon. Which you seem to.**

**YuNarukami1995: Don't worry, I would never think of abandoning this story. Ever.**

**TheLastNanaya: Yes, Kagero Fuma. I haven't seen much with Sasame and I've actually never read anything with Kotohime. But I do like Kagero and felt she was tragic in the story, so I've decided to change things up a little. No, no, not in the least. She is not pretending in the least, how did you even come to that particular conclusion?**

**RandomWriter21: He will start out like canon Sasuke, actually a little worse, but with Naruto's influence will slowly shift into becoming a better person. That's a good idea but unfortunately I have ideas pertaining to Sakura that require her to be in Team Seven but don't worry, there will be plenty of interaction between Naruto and Hinata regardless, there will just be points early on where there isn't.**

**God of Thorns: He will reach Mangekyo on the Sharingan. Whether it'll go further or not will be for you to see.**

**Well, that seems to be it for the reviewer responses, guess it's time to get onto the real story, huh?**

* * *

Hiashi sat in the main room of the Hyuga compound with several of his advisors.

Hiashi sighed in thought before looking to the sides. "No more."

Several of the advisors nodded.

"Hinata's skills have reached a good peak for a Hyuga her age. So whatever training she has been doing with that _thing_ must stop immediately. So I expect you all to ensure that."

"Sir, how do we handle _it_ though? Lady Hanari has made that beast comfortable in our home. How do we keep it out?"

Hiashi nodded. "I have methods for doing so. You merely leave that to me."

The advisors all nodded.

* * *

Naruto awoke in his room slowly. He felt tired. He didn't know exactly why as he slowly came to, before flashes of the previous night filled his mind. Or more specifically, emotions and sensations.

Naruto knew that the way Hanari had touched and fondled him would be considered abuse under the law, but he also trusted her implicitly, knowing that she would never do anything to hurt him or take advantage of him in any way. He also knew that she loved and cared for him, and his gut told him that what she was doing was for their mutual benefit, but more for his. He knew that what she had done was an act of giving to him. He remembered more of it as well as he just felt the images fill his mind. He remembered things she said, promises she made, how safe he felt with her, and he even remembered the sensation of her skin.

However, there is one thing that stuck in his mind most. Her eyes. He had always seen people looking at him with eyes filled with fear or hatred. But he saw Hanari's eyes filled with only one emotion that he could place: love. He smiled to himself as the image filled his mind.

After a few more moments he got up and made himself some breakfast. He also noticed one more thing, the sky seemed brighter than normal. He liked that.

* * *

Kurama sat inside his cage bored until he noticed something off to the side. The sphere next to him had grown some again and he now noticed it had darkened considerably in color. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

* * *

Naruto spent quite a lot of time merely sitting in his room in thought, mulling through the events of the past few days. Mainly trying to discover what possible reasons Itachi would have for leaving, now that he could focus on that without the crippling pain that came with it. He then noticed something to the side.

He looked at the chair next to his desk, which sat almost right next to his bed, and saw something unusual on it. He turned on the desk lamp and picked it up. A long, dark blue sash that was merely lying on the chair back as if it were tossed there. He tilted his head in confusion before he seemed to remember something.

'_Hanari wears an obi just like this. Why'd she leave it here?_'

**'_Who knows. Go ahead and return it to her. It gets you out of this damned apartment at least. Even I need supplies to heal your body, and so far you're not getting any of the nutrients you receive from sunlight._'**

Naruto sighed in resignation as he neatly folded the sash and placed it in his pocket before grabbing his key and leaving the apartment.

* * *

Naruto decided on a rooftop path to the Hyuga compound that day, he really wasn't in the mood to deal with the disdainful villagers.

He arrived at the compound quickly enough. He looked around and noticed that the front guards were not present. He tilted his head in confusion. "Huh, guess they must be busy or somethin'."

He walked a short way into the compound and then came face to face with Hiashi.

Naruto curled up slightly under the man's heavy glare.

"So, demon, you finally showed up. I've been waiting."

Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What, are you going to attack me? To kill me?"

Naruto just frowned in annoyance. "I'd like to see Hanari."

"I'm sure you would. But you won't. Nor my daughter. Some beast like you has no reason to be around my wife or daughter ever again. You had your benefits for being around Hinata, but you've now far passed your time for where I feel you're benefitting my daughter."

Naruto's frown deepened.

"You see, your continued presence here, in _my_ compound, the Hyuga compound, is causing quite a few problems. People are starting to change, your cursed influence is having very negative effects on my people. I refuse to allow your curse to affect the people that I, as head of the Hyuga clan, am sworn to lead and protect."

Naruto's frown turned into a light glare.

Hinata had peeked over the corner, hearing her father's angry voice and was surprised to see Naruto standing in the middle of the courtyard. She was scared when she noticed several Hyuga clansmen standing behind him.

* * *

Hiashi waved a hand and one of the clansmen jumped forward, placing a paralysis jutsu on Naruto, causing him to fall to his knees.

Naruto fell and felt his whole body become numb and heavy. His eyes widened in shock and horror. '_W-what the hell?!_'

**'_Shit! That's a paralysis jutsu! Naruto, you need to try and break it!_'**

Naruto tried his best but he found that even his chakra network was paralyzed.

Hiashi then stepped forward some. "Now, it's time I taught you a lesson. You may have had a free pass before thanks to my bleeding heart of a wife and my foolish daughter, but I have, and have had, no desire for you to ever step foot here again. So, here is a taste of what will happen should you curse us with your presence ever again."

One of the Hyuga walked up in front of Naruto and raised an open hand at him.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, even with his Sharingan active he could tell what that was.

The Hyuga then slammed their hand forward at Naruto, releasing a burst of chakra into his body.

Naruto released a shout of pain, muffled by his paralysis.

Another Hyuga stepped forward and did the same, then another, and then another. Until a total of four Hyuga clansmen were surrounding Naruto, pounding on him with Gentle Fist strikes.

Hiashi turned as he heard a loud shriek of horror as Hinata ran out from her hiding place. She ran over to her father and grabbed his kimono, pleading with tears in her eyes. "Please! Stop! Don't do this! Naruto rescued me when I was kidnapped! Please don't hurt him!"

Hiashi roughly pushed his daughter off of him and sneered at her. "I don't care. I could have dealt with the problem myself, plus I would rather a kidnapper put his hands on a Hyuga than that scum."

Hanari, who had heard the commotion by that time, came out from the compound and saw the event taking place in the main courtyard. Frozen in place in pure horror she turned to Hiashi with furor. "Hiashi! Stop this!"

Hiashi just frowned at her. "No, this must be done. The boy is already causing fragmentation of the clan, I can't allow it to go any further."

Hinata then ran over and pulled on Hiashi's coat, begging him to stop with tears in her eyes.

Hiashi frowned and did something even Hanari hadn't expected, he slapped Hinata away. "Do not attempt to usurp my decisions. Your skills may have increased due to your association with that thing but your mind has obviously been distorted."

Naruto froze mentally when he saw that. His current level of pain, combined with his already mangled mental state, caused his rage at Hiashi to fly through the roof. Without intending to, Naruto cracked Kurama's seal and tapped into the fox's power. This was a bad thing because Kurama's chakra was being tainted by not only Kurama's own emotions, but Naruto's intense rage turned the chakra vile. He smashed through the Hyuga's paralysis jutsu and his body underwent a physical change. His whisker-marks thickened, his hair became messier and more feral, his normally bright blue eyes became slitted and turned blood red, his nails and canines extended ferociously, and, to top it all off, his body became enshrouded in a thick cloak of bubbling, red chakra that took on a hazy resemblance to Kurama, one tail swaying behind him and two long ears atop his head. Naruto merely reacted and charged through the Hyuga that were attacking him, gunning straight for Hiashi.

"W-what the?!" Hiashi shouted. That, he had not expected. He had merely expected Naruto to eventually tire of the assault and begin begging to be let go, agreeing to never return, or to simply pass out. He hadn't expected Naruto to become monstrous like that.

Hanari widened her eyes as Naruto charged for Hiashi. Without thinking she began running to intercept Naruto, while at the same time one of the other Hyuga came in with a kunai in hand.

The three intersected at roughly the same time, blood flying high into the air before splashing onto the ground in a wide splatter. Hiashi's eyes widened as did Naruto's. The lone Hyuga stopped cold as Naruto realized what had happened.

He stood with his slung forward, tentacle like chakra arm pierced through Hanari's chest, out her back.

Naruto completely froze, his body and mind merely shutting down as he seemed to be incapable of processing what happened, falling to his knees as three Hyuga ran over and held him down.

Hiashi ran over to his bleeding and heavily wounded wife, while Hinata stood motionless against the wall.

As Hiashi held Hanari's dying form, Naruto could only look on in emotionless shock before Hanari turned to him with one last bit of energy and mouthed words to him.

His realization upon what they were finally cracking him. His eyes widened intensely, his cloak bursting off as his Sharingan activated on its own. The three tomoe began spinning before the "bulbs" of each tomoe extended and met in the middle, creating a three-pointed pinwheel shaped. The form as the large circle in the middle shrunk until it disappeared, leaving a curved, three-pointed star with a small red circle in the middle, the three points then splitting down the middle as they became a six-pointed star with curved arms. His eyes then closed as he finally lost consciousness from the events, Hanari's last words ringing in his mind.

"I love you, Naruto."

* * *

Kurama looked to the side worried as the small, dark purple sphere began to grow and grow, the color turning black as night before he watched as a figure stepped out of the growing and now misshapen sphere.

Kurama's eyes widened as he watched Naruto, or a figure closely resembling Naruto, stumble out of the sphere with an almost deathly pace. He then noticed the two biggest differences when the figure looked at him.

Jet black hair and dark violet eyes. The figure looked at Kurama blankly before a thick, angry glare formed on his face, followed by a blood curdling howl as he grabbed his head and fell over onto his side.

Kurama sneered as he returned his focus to the events outside.

* * *

Hiashi, covered in Hanari's blood, stumbled towards Naruto with a small sword in hand. He raised it up in an attempt to strike Naruto but found himself bound by three snakes as Anko jumped down from the rooftops.

Two ANBU, one Yugao and the other a man with tall silver hair, jumped down as well, standing around Naruto to keep the other Hyuga away.

From that point on, Naruto saw only flashes of the following events.

Anko struggling to restrain the incensed Hyuga patriarch, Hinata lying on the floor weeping, the two ANBU beside him.

Hiruzen appearing and shouting at the crowd.

Naruto then completely blacked out.

* * *

Naruto awoke inside his mindscape, mind and body still weak and lifeless from the events. He looked around weakly before it registered where he was.

He attempted to move so as to stand but found his body, and his mouth, useless.

"So…this is where it begins, hm?" Naruto heard a voice, similar to his own yet feral, say frustrated.

'_What…who said that?_' he attempted to ask, only able to form the words in his mind.

"I did you bastard," the voice said again as Naruto watched a figure walk over him, obscured by the single light source just above Kurama's cage. "So…you feel tired?" The figure attempted to reach down to Naruto but was suddenly yanked away by a small amount of Kurama's chakra that managed to get through the bars.

Kurama then wrapped his tail around the figure and seemed to throw it high into the sky, the figure vanishing even from his view.

Naruto was too weak and confused to question any of what happened as unconsciousness took him again.

* * *

Eventually Naruto was cleared from the hospital, but to Hiruzen's surprise and concern, Naruto's memory seemed very incomplete, with large chunks of time missing in his memory. Unfortunately, Naruto seemed to have a perfect recollection of Hanari's death, to a near crippling degree.

With a little help from Hiruzen Naruto was able to cope and managed to return to the ninja academy.

It was there that Hiruzen discovered what was either Naruto's true sense of will, or a debilitating coping mechanism. Naruto played a complete fool at school. Acting boisterous and energetic, doing everything in his power to annoy everyone possible. Ranging from the simple acts of bugging other students to resuming his village-wide pranks.

However, it was not invisible to all, mostly Hiruzen, Anko, and a few others, that Naruto was avoiding Hinata. He would mostly divert his gaze from her or become busy whenever she attempted to speak to him.

The reason wasn't too hard to decipher to the aged Hokage. Naruto felt guilty, as would anyone in his particular situation, and more so Naruto specifically, due to his dreams of reaching Hokage.

Naruto, while at school at least, seemed to attempt to continue his rivalry with Sasuke for a time.

Sasuke made it clear he wasn't interested however, ranging from coldly brushing the blonde's actions off to snapping at him. During the tail end of the first year of the academy is when it came to a head however, seemingly pushing the two apart permanently.

* * *

"Yo! Sasuke!"

Sasuke snarled in disgust as the familiar energetic voice called to him. He turned with annoyance as Naruto approached.

Naruto stopped in his run when he saw this, before curling up some. While Sasuke had given looks of annoyance to Naruto before, none had been quite like that one. Sasuke was giving Naruto the exact same expression he had seen everywhere. That same hateful, disdainful look he received from the villagers.

Sasuke sneered at the blonde. "What do you want, loser?"

Naruto glared at Sasuke, not exactly pleased with the resurgence of his old nickname. He looked back at Sasuke and was about to speak before turning and saying plainly, "Nothing." Naruto then walked away.

Sasuke sneered in frustration. "Hn, then don't waste my time, loser."

Naruto was not in the mood for that and unfortunately, reacted. He spun on his heels and charged a fist at Sasuke.

Sasuke barely turned before he felt the dull throbbing on the side of his face.

Naruto stood nearby breathing heavily, his fist still balled, looking at Sasuke with hurt and frustration.

Sasuke stood up and spat a small bit of blood from his mouth before glaring at Naruto. "What the hell's wrong with you, loser?!"

"Why don't you just shut up?!" Naruto snapped.

The two glared at each other for several more seconds before they seemed to just drop their emotions and turned to walk away from each other.

To the surprise of no one the girls in the hallway all rallied around Sasuke, either chasing him in attempts to console him or turning and hurling insults at Naruto, among other objects.

Hinata attempted to catch up to and speak to Naruto but stopped when she saw the cold blue in his eyes.

Naruto stopped and turned to Hinata. "Oh." He opened his mouth to speak but then dropped his shoulders and walked off from the hall in a fast walk, getting away from the area as quickly as possible.

* * *

From that day forward Naruto and Sasuke had little to no interactions. Naruto swiftly returned to his energetic and clown-like persona the next day but mostly ignored Sasuke, and the ravenette seemed perfectly okay with that.

Naruto had been true to his word though, he had managed to subdue and hide his skills the entire time he was in the academy, making just below average grades in all areas. High enough to not be in danger of failing but not high enough to rouse suspicion.

Of course this act was made some easier thanks to the frankly assholes of teachers he received. Throughout his entire first of four years in the academy, he was bounced from teacher to teacher, instructor to instructor, all of whom quit the class Naruto was in because they simply couldn't stand his antics or, and what was generally the real reason, were frustrated with him making it past all of their attempts to undermine him.

One teacher managed to stick with Naruto, a man with silver hair, but just looking at him made Naruto's skin crawl so he tried to spend as little time as possible around him.

This all began to change during his second year when a new teacher was assigned to Naruto's class. Iruka Umino.

* * *

Iruka had been asked personally by Hiruzen to take up the position of teaching Naruto's class, purposefully because Naruto was in that class. Naturally, Iruka was opposed to the idea as he, with all others in the academy, had the same negative feelings towards Naruto as the villagers.

However, Hiruzen had counseled Iruka into opening his mind somewhat on Naruto's teaching. Iruka thought that was easier said than done.

* * *

Naruto sat in his seat, allowing his face to drop its energetic smile for a more solemn look when he heard footsteps outside the room. He narrowed his eyes as he remembered all the different teachers he'd had last year. '_So, what'll this one be like?_' Naruto thought bluntly.

Iruka stepped into the room, an authoritative smile on his face as he looked around the room. His smile dropped however when he saw Naruto. Returning his smile he went to the classroom's main podium. "Alright everyone, calm down."

The class ignored him.

"Sit down everybody."

And again.

With a twitching eyebrow he shouted, "Sit down and shut up!"

The entire class responded instantly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and then chuckled to himself. '_This one will be entertaining._'

Iruka sighed and then looked around. "Alright. I think we should start this year off right – with class wide introductions. I'll start. My name is Iruka Umino, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for this year. Now, you should each include something about yourself. For me, my favorite food is miso pork ramen."

Naruto perked up in interest at that.

"Alright then, we'll just move down the list with students. Ayuka Sari, you go first."

After that, the other students proceeded to, rather nervously for some and annoyed for others, introduce themselves. Most of them didn't see the need as the class selection was virtually the same as always but they complied anyway.

Eventually the list got down to Naruto.

Naruto merely rested his head on his arms, not expecting to be called, when he heard, "Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto didn't respond for a moment thinking it was a fluke.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka said slightly more annoyed.

Naruto perked up, excited that he was actually being noticed, but then drooped some, not really wanting to say much of anything, despite his usually rambunctious nature. However, not wanting to be seen for how he truly felt, he put on his best close-eyed grin and retorted, "Nah, I don't wanna."

Iruka twitched an eyebrow in annoyance. He was tempted to just skip Naruto, but decided to give it a little bit of a chance. "The other students did it as well, so should you."

"Well I don't want to! I don't want to be lumped in with everyone else! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"

Iruka smirked annoyed. "That's…a good start…so how about you get down here and try it?"

Naruto moaned as he stood up and walked down.

As he did, Iruka noticed that despite Naruto's grin, his eyes looked hollow. He ignored it as Naruto began his introduction.

He turned on his heel and looked lilke he was about to do a proper introduction when he said, "I don't need to introduce myself, everyone knows who I am 'cuz I'm awesome!"

Iruka nearly face-faulted and was about to scold Naruto for his disruptions when the words of another teacher filled his head, '_Naruto's just trouble, like a fly. If you let him get to you you'll never get rid of him. But if you ignore him long enough he'll just go away. Then just worry about everyone else._' Iruka sighed and pointed to the seats. "That's fine, just go sit down."

Naruto's grin dropped when he saw the cold look in Iruka's eyes. He put his hands in his pockets as he walked to his desk, sitting down with a huff as he looked out the window. '_I really thought this guy'd be different._'

Iruka looked at Naruto with an expression mixed with frustration and confusion before returning to the rest of the introductions.

* * *

To Naruto's dismay Iruka remained that way for several more weeks. One particular moment for this stuck out in Naruto's memory.

* * *

Naruto had managed to mostly avoid Sasuke for a long time, until it came time for taijutsu sparring under Iruka.

"Naruto Uzumaki versus Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka called.

Naturally the girls of the class cheered as Sasuke entered the ring, either ignoring or booing Naruto.

Sasuke looked at Naruto dismissively, Naruto at Sasuke annoyed.

"And here I thought I'd be able to evade the loser throughout the academy. No such luck I guess," Sasuke sneered confidently.

Naruto just huffed. "Don't think this is a treat for me either, jerk."

Naruto groaned as it seemed "jerk" was the keyword to set the mob of preteen girls on the kill as they began shouting crudely at them. Naruto had learned to ignore them.

Sasuke couldn't stand them, he found them greatly annoying.

Iruka looked between both boys and then nodded. "Now, do the Sign of Confrontation."

Both boys responded, annoyed as they were, and formed the half-hitsuji signs.

"Now, begin!"

Sasuke charged in immediately.

Naruto almost sweat-dropped. '_Seriously? He's just using a basic charging punch. Well, I can't kick his sorry ass, heh, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun._'

Sasuke neared Naruto and swung, Naruto ducking under the punch to dodge it. Sasuke sneered and spun with a backhand, Naruto jumping back to avoid it.

Iruka raised an eyebrow in confusion. '_That's odd. Naruto's always so energetic and confrontational to the other students, but in this spar he's just dodging. Actually…he seems to always do a lot of dodging, as if he doesn't want to get into an actual fight._' Iruka narrowed his eyes in thought as the spar continued.

Sasuke flung his arm forward in a weak and flimsy attempt to hit Naruto, before stopping to pant as sweat poured down his brow.

Naruto just grinned playfully. "Aww, ya tired?"

Sasuke snarled and then seemed to get a burst of energy, turning and charging at Naruto.

"Wh-what the…?!" Naruto shouted, honestly surprised before he suddenly found himself on his back, Sasuke above him poised to strike. It was then that Naruto noticed something he hadn't before. Sasuke's eyes, or more specifically, the look in them. They had almost the same look as the villagers, a cold, empty glare. But Naruto could instantly tell they were different, unlike the villagers, Sasuke wasn't glaring at _him_, he was glaring at something else, someone else. And then, he began to put more of the pieces together. After the two stood up, Naruto frowned in thought. '_So…that's what it is…_' Naruto just sighed as Iruka announced Sasuke as the winner. Naturally the girls in the class, most of them, cheered happily for the Uchiha heir's victory.

"Now," Iruka began. "The Sign of Reconciliation."

Naruto nodded, Sasuke didn't react. Naruto stuck out his hand, a half-sign formed, and extended it to Sasuke.

Sasuke reached forward but then stopped short and slapped Naruto's hand away. "I have nothing to reconcile with you."

Iruka groaned and was about to scold Sasuke for his words, but then glanced at Naruto and sighed. "Fine, just leave the field."

Naruto flinched. He hadn't expected that. Most teachers at least scolded the other students for not performing the Sign of Reconciliation with him, though it was so they didn't do it to other students, without any specific punishment about it being Naruto. But Iruka hadn't even done that much. Naruto was starting to wonder if Iruka was possibly even worse than the other teachers. Naruto clenched his fists and then returned to the group of students, off to the side as normal, and then just slumped over.

"Naruto."

The blonde flinched momentarily upon hearing the voice. He looked up to see Iruka next to him. Naruto frowned in suspicion. "What?" he asked gruffly.

Iruka groaned as he looked at the boy's annoyed face. He attempted to find the words he wanted to say, but after a moment's hesitation he just sighed. "Nevermind, just…better luck next time I suppose."

Naruto raised an eyebrow confused. '_Really? That's the whole reason he came over here?_'

**'_No you halfwit. There was obviously another reason. I assume he wanted to say something to you, but I guess he's like everyone else._'**

Naruto frowned. '_Meaning he sees you every time he looks at me. What a pain in the ass. You know, I'm really getting fed up with this crap._'

**'_It'd be a simple thing to just grab your stuff and vacate the village._'**

'_Yeah…_' Naruto moaned in response as he slapped his goggled head against the fence. He then ran a hand through his hair in frustration. '_I couldn't do that! I've got Pops' legacy to hold up! Plus…I don't actually hate this village…_'

**'_What?!_'** Kurama asked in almost a sardonic laugh. **'_I've seen firsthand how forgiving you can be, but you really mean to tell me that after everything that's happened to you because of these mongrels you still don't bear any resentment towards them?_'**

Naruto put his hands behind his head and stared up at the clouds in thought. '_…Nope. Instead of hating them, I just want even harder to prove them wrong._'

**'_Haah, you are an interesting one. I keep getting surprised by you._'**

'_Mom didn't run off did she?_'

**'_Well…that's…bah, shaddup! That's totally different!_'**

Naruto smirked victoriously. '_Oh? And how's that?_'

**'_She had that bleeding heart father of yours with her all along the way._'**

Naruto frowned in thought. '_Really? You mean, they were together that long?_'

**'_Yeah. After those Hidden Cloud nimrods tried to kidnap her to control me, which wouldn't have worked had they succeeded because I would've just eaten them, Minato tracked her all throughout the forests on the edge of the Leaf Village and singlehandedly throttled those ninja and rescued Kushina. If I wasn't just apathetic to all human endeavor it woulda brought a tear to my eye._'**

Naruto looked down in thought. '_Oh…I see._'

**'_Somethin' wrong? You sound despondent. I didn't drudge up feelings about them did I?_'**

Naruto shook his head. '_No…that's not it. Whatever, it's not important._'

"Yo, you like watchin' the clouds too, huh?"

Naruto turned in subdued surprise to see his class' resident genius, and resident sloth, sitting next to him, staring up at the clouds. "Uhm…you are…Shikamaru…right?"

Shikamaru turned with a smirk. "Yup, you remembered."

Naruto just grinned. "'Course! I always remember the people I make friends with!"

Shikamaru blinked in thought. "Right…I wouldn't really call what we had a friendship, more like we talked to each other."

"Does it really matter?"

"Hmm, guess not. Long as I get to watch the clouds I really don't care."

Naruto grinned in response as he turned his gaze skyward. "Yup, we can agree there."

Shikamaru sighed. "You know, you blondes are a real drag, you're always so energetic."

Naruto chuckled. "It's what we do. This blonde hair acts as one big sun battery."

Shikamaru sweat-dropped. "Uhmm…o-kay. I'm not even going to pretend I know what that means."

"Oy! Shikamaru!" Choji shouted as he ran over. "Oh, uhm…you're…Fishcake, right?"

"Naruto!" Naruto responded indignantly. "It means Maelstrom! Not Fishcake, dammit!"

Choji totally ignored him. "Mmm…fishcakes…"

Naruto just twitched an eyebrow in exacerbation. "I…give up."

* * *

Iruka turned his head somewhat as he observed Naruto interacting with the other students. He narrowed his eyes in thought and then redirected his attention back to the students in front of him. "Hey! Careful with those punches, don't aim for the head!"

* * *

After finishing up the classes for the day, Naruto left the school with everyone else.

However, as soon as he was far enough away from the others he let his constant grin drop. To anyone seeing him the change would've been jarring. His smile dropped into an emotionless frown, his face became shadowed by his bangs and his eyes almost seemed to glaze over as he began his walk home.

He looked around the village as he wandered slowly, mostly ignoring the villagers. He normally would've just sped home but that day he had to buy a few things. He had a system to this as a result. His system being he wander to the section of the village where the stores he wanted were housed, and then subtly try to scope out which ones were the best to buy from. The reason being he had to be in a transformed state to buy anything worthwhile, and he didn't want to waste time looking around while disguised since he did have a certain time limit for his transformations. An unfortunate result of his massive reserves.

Unknown to him, he had a casual observer to his actions.

Iruka Umino sat on a roof nearby, observing Naruto as he wandered through the streets. Reason being that he had pushed past his hatred of Naruto and into curiosity. As he observed the blonde, he began to notice odd habits in his movements. Pacing up and down the same streets over and over, taking a paused momentarily, seeming to just stand randomly, before moving on again. It wasn't until he saw Naruto duck into an alley, Transform, and then move out to a store and purchase food that everything seemed to come together. And not in a particularly good way either.

Naruto wasn't just wandering, he was examining. Just like a shinobi trying to break into a building or facility, he was looking for the best place to go, biding his time and examining all options, before making his move. '_All that…for a few pieces of fruit and a carton of milk?_' Iruka's somber thoughts continued as he watched Naruto move to the red-light district. With a sigh he mumbled, "I see. So…the whole village hates him, meaning he has to go through all that effort just to buy food." He then paused and looked up at the Hokage Monument. "Is it possible that we are…wrong? All Naruto does is joke around in class and perform mischief…but…it always seems to make everyone else happy. When I announce a big test that makes everyone worried, Naruto does something stupid to get everyone laughing. When it's time for everyone to perform basic benchmark tests, he screws up in a laughably insane way. It's…it's just like…just like me…"

Iruka's thoughts then moved back to when he was in the Leaf Academy. Only a few short months after Kurama destroyed the village, killing Iruka's parents in the process. He had been essentially abandoned by the rest of the village, since they were all concerned with their own children. He was the one who received no praise for completing his exams, simply because there was no one there to praise him. He quickly learned he received nothing for doing well. So he acted out, playing a fool and becoming class clown to get attention.

Iruka laughed regretfully before slapping his head against a wall lightly. "Of course…that's it. Naruto's not acting out like that because he's a monster or anything. It's because he's lonely. And that's the only way he gets anything from anyone. I've heard from the other teachers how they view him when he does well…and here I go doing the same damn things…"

"I see you've finally realized, Iruka, why I selected you to be Naruto's teacher."

Iruka froze and turned to see Hiruzen behind him. Iruka immediately turned and kneeled. "Lord Hokage!"

Hiruzen waved a hand. "No need for such honorifics right now, Iruka. I came here only as a civil visit, not an official one."

"Oh, I see…" Iruka said with a small, guilty frown.

Hiruzen nodded. "As I said before, it seems you've finally realized why I selected you for Naruto's tutelage in the first place."

Iruka blinked in curiosity. "Ah, forgive me Sir, but…I don't follow."

"Right, well, Naruto has, mostly, had a life of being alone like yourself, which is part of the reason I selected you. Another, is that his acting out is for a slightly similar reason to your own, to get some form of attention from his peers and to give raised spirits to the others. There are also certain events that have transpired that make me feel he is in need of a friend or two, which is sadly something he is currently lacking."

Iruka looked down ashamed. "I see that now, Lord Hokage. I apologize for not realizing that sooner. I still treated Naruto the same as everyone else. And yet, I saw that he is hardly the monster everyone, even myself, believes him to be, often getting himself into bad situations just to cheer up a few classmates. And then to see him have to treat buying groceries like an A-rank mission, it almost makes me feel disgusted."

Hiruzen chuckled warmly. "I'm glad you did see it though, Iruka. Although, at this point, I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to."

Iruka nodded assuredly. "Right…I'll try to speak to him soon."

"Good." With that Hiruzen disappeared in a burst of smoke.

* * *

The next day, Iruka decided to talk to Naruto after the sparring session for the day.

That was the plan anyway, but the day didn't go quite as planned.

A new student was added to the class a few days prior, Yakumo Kurama, a girl from a clan with impressively powerful genjutsu abilities.

Put simply, her clan hoped that putting her in a social setting would quell her powers somehow.

Naruto was more than aware that was a foolish gamble, since the students began to bully her. Mainly because it was only the academic areas where she had any success, all other areas of learning she was very poor at. So the others picked on her for it.

Of course, Naruto being Naruto would always do something stupid whenever it started getting nasty to pull their attention away.

It wasn't until this specific day that matters became rough.

That's because the girl hadn't shown up for class and her parents stirred up a storm, meaning Iruka had to cut classes short for the day to look for her.

Naruto was quite happy with that. Despite being more skilled and more powerful than the other students, atop being smarter, Naruto was still a kid, and kids naturally didn't like school, and he was no exception. His reasons were just greater than most.

* * *

Iruka was continuing to search around the village for Yakumo when he noticed something out of the ordinary.

A small group of travelling merchants with a cart and a single bag.

Iruka narrowed his eyes and jumped down in front of the merchants.

They naturally were frightened.

"W-what do you want?!" one shouted worried.

Iruka nodded and looked at them. "We're in a crisis situation right now, I'll need to search that cart."

He easily noticed the head of the group gulp nervously. "W-well…we're uh…in a real hurry. We've ah…got a…newww, station, to get to so we don't really have time to stop."

Iruka narrowed his eyes. "I assure you, this will only take a moment."

The man nodded uneasily as Iruka walked around the cart. He reached out for the bag and was about to investigate it specifically when the head of the merchant group threw down a smoke bomb, blinding Iruka.

"Dammit! What the…!?" he shouted and looked around. He grit his teeth when he realized that the merchants were gone and so was the bag. "Crap…" He Teleported to another area of the village to investigate.

* * *

Naruto was on the edge of the Leaf Village's largest forest, about to start training again after a very long hiatus.

**'_Hold on._'**

'_Huh? What is it?_'

**'_Before you start, I need you do something._'**

'_Uhm…okay…_'

**'_You haven't activated it in a long time, so turn on your Sharingan._'**

Naruto raised a puzzled eyebrow. '_What for?_'

**'_Just do it._'**

'_Yeesh, alright._' He activated his Sharingan, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. '_Okay, so what am I supposed to do now?_'

**'_Flow more chakra into your Sharingan._'**

'_Why?_'

**'_Just do as I say._'**

Naruto sighed and did so. For a few seconds he didn't notice anything but then felt his vision sharpen to an even greater extent than normal. '_W-what is…this?_'

**'_Look into the stream over there._'**

Naruto nodded and walked over to the stream and looked in. That's when he saw the new shape his Sharingan had taken. He gasped momentarily, surprised at what he was seeing.

**'_I remember this from being alongside your bastard of a grandfather, what you've got now is the next evolution of the Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan,_'** Kurama explained plainly.

Naruto looked into his reflection slightly puzzled before a big grin split his face. '_This is so cool! What's it do?! What's it do?!_'

**'_Calm down, calm down. I'll try to explain its abilities as simply as possible. I'm assuming for now you've only got access to the Mangekyo's simplest technique, advanced genjutsu._'**

'_Simplest, you mean it has other powers?_'

Kurama nodded, even though Naruto couldn't see it. **'_Yes. Aside from that it can cast an incredibly powerful genjutsu called Tsukuyomi. Unfortunately I can't say much about it since my only experience with it is Madara and that other Uchiha putting me under the genjutsu._'**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. '_Other Uchiha?_'

**'_Not important. It also has an ability called Amaterasu. That's a nasty one, as well as Kamui and Susano'o._'**

Naruto blinked in confusion. '_That's…a lot._'

**'_That's what makes that damn thing so powerful. For now all you can do I assume is Tsukuyomi._'**

Naruto folded his arms in thought as he looked down at the water's surface. '_How do I practice it?_'

**'_I know of two options: you can either cast it on someone…_'**

Naruto interrupted, '_That's not happening._'

**'_Or,_'** Kurama said annoyed, **'_you can cast it on a Shadow Clone to train it._'**

'_So, do I control the genjutsu or does it just happen?_'

**'_For now it will probably be random, since there aren't specific signs used like for normal genjutsu._'**

Naruto nodded and created a Shadow Clone, and then activated his Mangekyo.

**'_Before you start, Tsukuyomi is cast with the left Mangekyo, so closing your right eye might help._'**

Naruto nodded again and closed his right eye, and then looked at the clone. Nothing happened. He then got an idea. One thing he had learned while practicing basic genjutsu with the Sharingan is that using a half-sign helped to complete the jutsu. He also wondered if saying the technique's name wouldn't hurt. So, nodding to himself, he closed his right eye, widened his left, looked at his clone, formed a half hitsuji sign, and declared, "Tsukuyomi!"

Nothing happened for a moment before his clone fell over in a heap before dispelling.

Naruto was about to learn that casting such a powerful genjutsu on a Shadow Clone, which transfers its memories and experiences to the user, was a very bad idea.

He learned this as, right after the clone dispelled, he suddenly felt a sickening feeling in his stomach before his perception darkened. He turned around slowly and almost screamed as something, he couldn't tell what, appeared as a massive, shadowed creature behind him before swiping its large, clawed hand at him.

"Gah!" Naruto shouted as the illusion ended. He looked around frantically. "W-…what the hell was that?!"

**'_Huh, I guess casting Tsukuyomi on your own clone is like casting it on yourself. You probably shouldn't do that again._'**

'_Ya think!?_' Naruto shouted in his mind. Before chuckling. '_Although, if I do need to use it I might want to try and make that the illusion I use._' He then winced as he felt a sudden and intense pain in his left eye, dropping to his knees. "W-what is this?!" He snapped his left eye shut as he saw with his right as several drops of blood fell to the ground. Grunting he managed to stand up and walk over to the stream. He almost gasped when he looked at his reflection. Blood was streaming from his eye like tears. Thinking it was another accidental illusion he tried to dispel it to no avail. So using his sleeve he wiped the blood away.

' _K-…Kurama…why did…that happen?_' he asked the fox apprehensively.

Kurama hummed in thought. **'_My guess is the strain._'**

'_The strain?_'

**'_Yes. Even though it didn't affect him all that much I remember Madara using Tsukuyomi and that it put a large amount of strain on his body. Of course being what he was it had little outward effect on him but it was there. I'm guessing the strain it takes on your chakra and your body caused that side effect. I'd recommend getting a little more proficient with that jutsu before you go hog wild in combat._'**

Naruto sighed as slumped to the ground. '_Riigghht. Only problem is I don't know how to get more proficient outside of combat._' He frowned before tossing a stone into the stream. '_If Itachi-sensei were here I'd be able to train with him,_' Naruto pouted.

Kurama just sighed. **'_Well he's not. And moping about it won't get us anywhere._'**

'_But it's not fair! I finally get one person in this village that respects me and they have to leave. Same thing with Hanari, she died because of me. It's like everyone I make friends with goes away._'

Kurama sighed again, this time regretfully rather than annoyed.

* * *

Naruto then found himself sitting in front of Kurama's cage.

Kurama was looking at him curiously. **"Is that why you're avoiding Hinata?"**

Naruto widened his eyes in shock before tightening up the ball he'd curled himself into. He then nodded slowly. "Yeah…I don't want her to leave. At least…if I stay away from her she'll stay in the village. Even Sasuke's lost it after we became friends."

Kurama frowned as he looked at Naruto. **"I see…well, do you plan on just slumping around like that?"**

Naruto raised an eyebrow and then looked at Kurama frustrated. "What do you suggest I do then?" he asked roughly.

**"I certainly don't suggest sitting on your ass feeling sorry for yourself."**

Naruto groaned as he tightened in on himself as a snarl took his features. "I…don't know what I'm supposed to do…how the hell can I become Hokage if everyone I care about just goes away?!"

Kurama narrowed his eyes. **"You want to know what I think part of this problem is?"**

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What…?"

**"You're just scared."**

"Of course I am!"

**"You shouldn't be. You have me at your side, begrudgingly so but it is what it is. As you said yourself before, my existence may be involved with what's happened to you, but I am not the cause of it, the way people foolishly react is. So instead of sitting around whining and complaining, get out there and do something to prove them wrong, that's what you set out to do, isn't?!"**

Naruto just listened to Kurama's words before nodding. "Yeah…you're right…it is. But what if-"

**"Don't."**

Naruto looked up at Kurama surprised by his swift interruption.

**"When you protect someone, don't let them die. Or, when you defend yourself, don't get cut, and when you attack someone, you kill them."**

Naruto was sucked into Kurama's words. "Where did you…?"

**"From Old Man Six Paths."**

"Old Man…" Naruto thought about his words for a moment. "You mean, the Sage of Six Paths!?"

**"The same."**

"How are you-?!"

**"Not yet. I've already told you far more than any other human before you. I'll tell you this, those are some of the words he spoke to me while I was young. So take those words, and use them. If you can do that then maybe all your boasting won't just be a lot of hot air."**

Naruto just smirked and was about to speak when he noticed a commotion back in the real world.

* * *

Naruto awoke and looked around to see a small group of ninjas heading towards the edge of the village. His Mangekyo Sharingan still active he was able to keenly see a sack one of them had on him, with a person inside. "Okay, that can't be good." Naruto immediately jumped to his feet and was about to take off after them, before Kurama's words entered his mind again. He smirked and then jumped towards the group.

* * *

Iruka was busy pursuing the group of "merchants" he had encountered. It was obvious to him at that point that they were not merchants. He didn't know if they were involved in Yakumo's disappearance but it was looking more and more likely.

He continued chasing after them before getting a glimpse of the two ninja just ahead of him. He reached into his pocket and prepared to launch several kunai at the group when something caught his eye.

* * *

Naruto jumped up the tree trunks and then lunged after the group. "Hey, why don't you three drop the girl, huh?"

"What the…?!" they shouted seeing Naruto behind them.

The leader just grunted as he turned. "Tch, it's just some damn brat. Kagubo, deal with him."

"Right," the other ninja responded. He lunged at Naruto with a kunai in hand.

Naruto ducked under the lunge and kicked the man's shoulder, sending him crashing onto a nearby branch.

The man snarled as he turned and flashed through several hand signs.

"Crap," Naruto snarled, not having his Sharingan active, making the man's gestures nearly invisible to him.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The man then launched a ball of fire at Naruto.

The blonde managed to dodge to the side, but realized his mistake.

The fireball was only a distraction, the man had run up matching its speed and had predicted which side Naruto would dodge to.

Naruto paid for his folly with a knee to the gut, sending him slamming against a tree. Naruto grunted as the pain coursed through his body.

"Annoying little brat," the man sneered as he approached Naruto with a kunai drawn.

Naruto held his injured abdomen and realized it was bleeding. '_W-what the hell?!_' He then looked and saw the hidden blade on the man's knee.

"Time for you to die, little brat." The man pulled his kunai wide, ready to slash Naruto's throat.

"Shadow Kunai Jutsu!"

Both Naruto and the man turned as a hailstorm of kunai slammed into him from the side, killing him almost instantly.

Unfortunately he had Naruto by the throat, meaning Naruto was flung to the side as well, and hadn't had time to react to the plummet. '_Oh no!_' He snapped his eyes shut, waiting for the pain of impacting the ground. He felt an impact alright, but it wasn't a rough impact, it was more like he was caught.

"So, you alright?"

Naruto eased his eyes open and saw Iruka had caught him. The shock of being held by a man caused Naruto to squirm until he fell onto the branch Iruka was standing on.

"Oww…" Naruto moaned.

Iruka chuckled. "I'd say you're doing alright."

Naruto sat up and looked at Iruka incredulously. "Why?"

"Why what?" Iruka asked, though a knowing smirk on his face.

"Why did you save me? Don't you hate me like everyone else?" Naruto asked, honestly perplexed.

"Yes, at first."

Naruto looked at Iruka angrily.

"But not now."

Naruto froze in confusion and surprise.

"Now, I've learned a little more about you, and it's obvious you're not some monster. You're just…one of my students." Iruka smiled warmly at Naruto.

Naruto could only look on in surprise. He smiled as well and nodded, allowing Iruka to pull him to a standing posture. He then flinched as he remember the other ninja. "Hey, those other guys, they-!"

Iruka interrupted him with a cold glare and tone, this time aimed at the retreating ninja, "I know…go and alert the Hokage. I'll deal with them, Naruto."

Naruto widened his eyes momentarily before grinning. "You got it, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto turned and ran off towards the village as Iruka went the other direction.

* * *

Fortunately, Iruka had managed to find Yakumo with the foreign ninja, it seemed she had at some point woken up during their travel and her genjutsu abilities activated unconsciously, unintentionally killing the two ninja. Hiruzen was told of this and decided that since she had now unlocked her powerful abilities, normal schooling wouldn't suffice, so Hiruzen had it arranged for Yakumo to be taught by a specialist in the genjutsu field.

As for Naruto and Iruka, after Iruka met with Naruto afterwards and apologized all over himself for being such a fool Naruto forgave Iruka easily, he wasn't one to bear a grudge. Iruka then took to making sure Naruto was no longer hindered by the other teachers involved with Naruto's schooling.

He would dispel the genjutsus placed on Naruto's tests and would step in to correct any of the other teachers misguiding Naruto on his skills.

Of course Naruto still needed to maintain his veil of idiocy, meaning even with Iruka's help Naruto seemed to only improve at a slightly faster rate. However, instead of coldly ignoring Naruto like before, Iruka was making sure to dole out the full and proper amounts of shouting and scolding to the blonde for his screw-ups.

Naruto never thought he'd actually be pleased to get reprimanded.

Iruka even began treating Naruto to meals at Ichiraku's, after tracking Naruto down to the little restaurant on a few days he skipped classes.

* * *

Naruto and Iruka became fast friends after that, although Naruto had quickly lost touch with both Sasuke and Hinata.

Naruto could say plainly even without his eyes how hateful Sasuke was becoming, and Naruto just began to dislike his ex-teacher's little brother.

Hinata, however, was an entirely different issue.

* * *

Naruto began to notice her stalking on him increased more and more as she continued to tail him at almost all times.

He also began to notice something troubling, she was beginning to do poorly in the academy classes. Her scores in everything but the mental skills were decreasing. Her confidence also seemed to be shrinking.

Naruto soon realized it was because he kept ignoring her.

* * *

Naruto sat on a swing attached to a large tree on the edge of the academy grounds. He looked up at the sky in thought. '_Damn…so all I've been doing is making things worse?_'

**'_Even I coulda told you that,_'** Kurama added snidely.

'_Not. Helping._'

**'_Whatever…point is, ignoring someone like you have, especially someone who's so gaga over you like that is-_'**

Naruto suddenly interrupted his tenant. '_What're you talking about?_'

**'_What do you…? Wait. You mean you haven't noticed?_'**

'_Noticed? Noticed what? I'd hardly say Hinata's gaga about me, or whatever you said._'

**'_YOU DENSE IDIOT!_'**

Naruto was almost floored by the loudness of Kurama's shout. '_What the hell was that for?!_'

**'_Because you blind little fool, Hinata has done everything but say it!_'**

Naruto twitched an eyebrow in frustration. '_Please, to me I'm a brother at best._'

Kurama was almost speechless. **'_I…I knew you were dense, but…_this_ dense? If Hinata was making it anymore obvious she'd be carrying a sign around. You can't honestly tell me you don't see that._'**

Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. '_Huh…I guess you do kinda have a point. It would explain the stalking and all._'

**'_WHY DID YOU THINK SHE DID THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!?_'**

'_I…I dunno. I just kinda thought…well I didn't really think about it._'

**'_Uuuggghhh…obviously. Whatever, even though _I_ know you did what you did because of that irrational fear of yours, Hinata doesn't. To her, you were basically rejecting her._'**

Naruto paled. '_N-no…I…I couldn't have._'

Kurama gave a confused grunt. **'_So…it worries you that much, eh?_'**

Naruto hung his head. '_Yeah…I never thought that I'd be hurting her so much._'

**'_Well, if the look she always gives you is any indication, an apology might sew things up. Though I suggest making it soon before she falls too far._'**

Naruto stood up with a nod. '_Hey Kurama…is there a way I can try to sense her?_'

Kurama thought for a moment. **'_Perhaps. Try pulsing a large amount of chakra, one that's big enough to cover the whole village. Then try to distinguish her chakra signature from all the rest. If you can do that then finding her will be easy._'**

Naruto nodded as he put his hands in the hitsuji sign and stored a mass amount of chakra before pulsing it all outward. He concentrated on each return pulse that came back. Distinguishing each one from the other turned out to be a little harder than he thought. A lot of them came back at the same time so often Naruto had a hard time breaking them up.

He had to perform the same act over and over several times before he finally found hers.

He snapped his eyes open and, without giving consideration to where he was, despite not being watched anyway, used the Teleportation Jutsu and disappeared in a burst of smoke.

* * *

Hinata was not feeling well. She had just finished getting heavily scolded by Hiashi. The reason being her grades. Mentally she was doing just above average for her grade. However, all other areas, those that are typically necessary for a shinobi, primarily physical, she was doing poorly in. She had also started sparring with her younger sister Hanabi, and was being beaten to a pulp in each bout.

Plus, Naruto had been ignoring her. For a long time Naruto was avoiding her. Looking away when she turned her gaze to him, turning around when she was getting near to him, or suddenly getting busy when she tried to talk to him. And each time he did that felt like an arrow to her. She tried to keep herself assuming it was just him actually being busy or something simple along those lines, but she couldn't prevent her mind from falling to the worst possible conclusions each time she thought about it.

So, in an attempt to push out all of those thoughts, she was busy training herself to the bone so she had no time to think.

That was what she was originally doing anyway.

She had slipped away from her guard Ko so she could train in peace, and found herself physically exhausted far faster than normal.

Which turned out to be a big problem.

The reason being it turned out that there were more than a few people in the village who were dissatisfied with the Hyuga. Multiple smaller clans throughout the village who were rather insulted by the Hyugas' general demeanor and responses to the other clans.

A few of those clansmen, all of whom were adults, decided the best way to knock the clan off their high horse would be to take out or humiliate the clan heir, less than a year after their matriarch died.

Four people from smaller clans showed up in the training ground Hinata was in.

She looked to the side and saw them approach. She gasped before attempting to stand weakly.

"Well, well, look at this, the pitiful little Hyuga heir, all by herself in the middle of nowhere," one of the men sneered.

"It would be a real shame if anything…_bad_ happened to her," another snarled.

Hinata stood shakily and brought up a hand sign. "Byakugan!" she announced, her Byakugan flaring to life.

"Heh, heh, lookie here, she's gonna try and fight us. Little _brat!_" the first man shouted, swinging his knee around at her, sending her across the field.

Hinata tried weakly to stand up as the men approached. With her Byakugan active she saw one of them pulling out what was obviously a kunai. She grit her teeth as she attempted to stand again.

* * *

**'_Oy, Kit._'**

'_What?_' Naruto asked as he sped along the rooftops.

**'_I suggest you get movin'. I don't know who but there are several people gathering around Hinata. And something tells me it ain't a cordial visit._'**

Naruto snarled. '_Shit! I need more speed then._' His eyes widened as he remembered. Raising a half-sign, he announced, "Release!" His seals flashed as air seemed to rush out from his body. He then vanished again, but this time before the smoke even launched.

* * *

Hinata was lying against a tree, hurt from a blunt hit to the head.

The fourth man, who had looked uneasy from the beginning, was now quaking. "C-c-c'mon guys, I think we'd better stop there. No one cares if we smash that demon brat, but if we go too far with her, well…we'll probably be killed."

"Che, who cares?" the first man snorted. "No one could prove it was us, we'd just tell'em the shit demon did it. The people'd love nothing more than a legitimate reason to axe that little cretin. Of course…" he paused menacingly as he tightened his grip on his kunai, flipping it to stab, "that'd require the little brat to be dead first."

The other men gulped but then the fourth one, who had yet to speak, nodded weakly. "Yeah…plus, if we take her out it'd cripple the Hyuga. And then maybe we'd actually get some of the rights we deserve."

The first men nodded as he raised his kunai.

Naruto approached and saw them getting ready to strike.  
"Nnooo!" he shouted as he ran towards the four men and Hinata. However, as he was about to reach them, his desire to protect Hinata caused something he had never expected to happen. His outstretched arm, in such a position out of futility, began to feel warm before his sleeve began to shift. Suddenly, three chains made of pure chakra burst from his sleeve and launched at the would-be assassins.

The man with the kunai ducked, but the other three were struck across the torso by the chakra chains, getting sent flying back with large, shallow, gashes across their torsos.

Naruto ran over, grabbed up Hinata in his arms and jumped away from the man, his chains suddenly dissipating.

As he landed nearby, his back turned to the man, he slowly turned his head towards the man, Hinata still in his arms.

The man nearly screamed at the intense, dead-eyed glare Naruto was sending at him, his eyes being partially shadowed by his bangs.

The man seemed to collect himself long enough to assume a fighting stance and stare Naruto down, though he still sweat as he did. "You little brat! You can't scare me!"

Naruto set Hinata down and closed his eyes. Before turning to the man and snapping his eyes open, his Mangekyo Sharingan activated.

Of course, he was too far away for the man to make that out, but he was close enough for Naruto to make eye contact.

Naruto then formed a half-sign and said calmly, "Tsukuyomi."

The man felt a small twitch in his torso before he saw the shadows at Naruto's feet begin to distort, almost spinning and writhing. Then, they extended out behind him some, before a hunk of the shadows rose up in an indistinct form.

As it did, the figure began to darken more and more, its shape becoming more distinct as Naruto's body was enveloped in a thick red mist.

The figure took on a humanoid torso, a long, animal-like head with long ears shaping, nine long protrusions forming behind it like tails, swaying back and forth. Then its body was enveloped in a red cloak, flowing and pulsating like tissue, before two large, round, white eyes opened slowly to look at the man.

He stumbled backwards, falling to his knees as he attempted to scoot backwards. He found himself against a tree, unable to move further as sweat and tears poured from him.

The creature opened its mouth slowly, releasing a deep, guttural growl, a red mist escaping its mouth before it reached up a clawed hand that then extended like a tendril and shot for the man.

"I-i-i-it…can't be! It's…it's…the Nine-Tails!" he shouted before the claw stabbed him through the torso.

* * *

Naruto stood stoically looking at the man, who stood dumbly in front of him, frozen stock still in pure fear, before wetting himself and toppling over.

Naruto sighed heavily and then seemed to get knocked out of his daze and turned around to face Hinata.

She was lying on the ground where he had placed her, still unconscious. He knelt down slowly and picked her up gently, lightly shaking her. "Hey, Hinata. Hinata."

"Mm…" she moaned sleepily and weakly before her eyes slowly opened. As she cracked her eyes open she saw what she thought was Naruto sitting over her. She thought it couldn't be before her vision corrected and she realized it in fact was Naruto. She smiled to herself slightly before suddenly realizing, Naruto was only a few inches from her face. Which immediately turned a dark tomato red, almost luminescent, as she pushed Naruto away frightened.

"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed as he fell over.

"N-Naruto!" Hinata said worried.

Naruto sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "I'm okay." His expression then fell when he looked at Hinata. "But what about you?"

Hinata looked at herself and realized how beaten up she'd gotten. She shook her head slowly. "No, I'm fine."

"Thank the Sage," Naruto breathed out in relief.

Hinata raised an eyebrow. "You were worried?"

Naruto smiled at her apologetically. "Of course. I've actually been trying to find you."

Hinata turned red at those words. "Y-you were?"

Naruto nodded and then immediately bent his head down. "I'm sorry!"

Hinata looked at him surprised and confused. "W-w-what for?"

Naruto looked at her mirthlessly. "I'm sure you felt bad with my avoiding you all this time."

Hinata brought a hand to her chin and nodded weakly. "It's…it's okay. You just…wanted space…right?"

Naruto shook his head forcefully. "No! That's not it at all! I was just…worried…"

Hinata tilted her head puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Naruto tightened his fists greatly as he was about to explain it to her. "Well…" he began, biting his lip in frustration, "it's because…I was scared. I didn't want you to go."

Hinata froze completely. She'd never expected him to say that. Her face immediately turned bright red. "You…didn't want me to go?"

Naruto nodded with a weak smile. "Yeah…Itachi-sensei…Hanari…they're both people I cared about and now they're both gone. I thought…maybe if I stayed away from you, you wouldn't go anywhere."

Hinata's eyes widened as he continued.

He looked back at her weakly. "But…looks like I've just been a jerk huh?"

Hinata shook her head with a small smile. "No, that's…actually nice. But…don't…d-do t-…that anymore, okay?"

Naruto smiled at her and nodded. "You got it. If you're not too mad, we can still hang out and train, right?"

Hinata nodded silently with a smile.

Naruto lit up with a bright grin. "Yay! Thanks Hinata, y'know!" He immediately leapt forward and hugged the shy Hyuga.

Of course the sudden contact from him after so long overloaded her brain a little and steam almost shot out from her ears as she passed out.

"What?! Hinata! Hinata! Ohh not again!"

* * *

Naruto apologized all over himself some more after that.

Eventually he seemed to apologize enough to satisfy himself, at which point he and Hinata began training together again. Secretly of course.

Hiashi made no effort to hide his hatred for the blonde.

Naruto was not bothered by that but Hinata feared Hiashi's wrath and thus suggested they try to keep their actions secret.

Which worked until a few weeks into their training sessions they were discovered by Ko.

Naruto was naturally worried of having to do something rash but was surprised when Ko's reaction was not anger but relief. He was merely content that Hinata seemed to be happier again, since she had not been after Hanari's death.

Ko agreed not to reveal anything to Hiashi as long as Naruto made sure to help keep Hinata in high spirits.

Naruto accepted naturally.

* * *

After that time seemed to pass by for the duo at a fast pace.

Naruto and Hinata kept up their training meetings during the next three years of the academy.

Naruto and Sasuke's bitter relationship continued and eventually formed into mutual loathing.

Eventually the two seemed to forget each other's existence as Naruto focused more and more on his studies at the academy, some of it actually being new, as well as training and having fun with Hinata.

Sasuke, however, focused all of his attention and energy on one thing, revenge against Itachi for slaughtering the clan that night. He also had to deal with the constant onslaught of fangirls.

The two most vocal being two specific girls.

One was a girl with fair skin, green eyes, and long pink hair who always wore red named Sakura Haruno.

The other was a girl with long, bleach blonde hair tied in a high ponytail and one bang draped over one side of her face with featureless blue eyes who always wore purple named Ino Yamanaka.

The two of them seemed to have been friends at one point but had become bitter rivals over trying to win Sasuke's attention.

Although Sasuke honestly did care about them at all as his only focus was his hatred.

Naruto and Hinata continued their training during the academy time, though Naruto continued to present himself as a slightly below average student, Hinata didn't hide her improved skills though.

Hinata eventually asked Naruto why he hid like that, not presenting himself as skilled and smart as he actually was.

He was not thrilled to explain the reason was because the people of the village were so biased against him any vast increases or displays of ability would make him seem like even more of a threat than they already view him as.

Hinata understood, she had seen multiple times how the village viewed him, and she felt it was not right. Although she respected Naruto's request not to reveal any of it to anyone.

After a short time, Naruto felt that their training ground was getting too destroyed by their training, which would result in many problems.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, someone came in with an idea.

* * *

"Wow, you guys sure are doing a number to this place, huh?" Anko asked as she overlooked the two guiltily crestfallen preteens.

Naruto sighed heavily. "Yeahh…" he muttered guiltily.

"Well, guess it can't be avoided. Once you get up to the point of things like Great Breakthrough you're gonna do some damage."

Naruto slumped his shoulders. "I thought you were tryin' to make me feel better…"

"Heh, heh, what gave you that silly idea?" Anko teased. "I do have a solution though."

Both looked at her curiously.

* * *

Anko motioned behind her grandly. "Here we are! Training Ground Forty-Four, otherwise known as…the Forest of Death."

Naruto and Hinata stood practically shaking.

"N-N-Narutooo…I'm scared…" Hinata moaned shakily.

Naruto made a weak thumbs up, his bones rattling with fear as he did. "I-i-it'll…be okay…"

Hinata and Naruto continued to tremble as they stared at the large, dark forest with the distinct sounds of roars and hisses coming out from the depths.

Anko just chuckled sneakily. "Alright, alright. Calm down you two. Just stick behind me, as long as you do that you'll be alright. There's an area in the forest the animals don't like to go to. I'll take you there. But you gotta stick close."

Both nodded swiftly and proceeded to follow Anko into the imposing forest.

* * *

Anko ran through the forest, just a little faster than she knew the duo could move, with said duo behind her.

Hinata and Naruto were jumping through the forest at high speeds chasing after the crazy snake woman. "Ankooo!" Naruto moaned loudly. "Slow down! We'll lose track of you at this rate!"

Anko turned back with a devious glint in her eyes. "Oh quit whinin', you'll be fine."

Naruto sighed and then, Anko vanished when a branch obstructed his view.

"AAAHHH!" the two shouted before slamming into two trees en synchronous.

"Hahahah!" Anko laughed as she appeared in a burst of smoke in a branch just above them. "Wow…you two even slam into trees the same way."

"Owww…" Naruto moaned as he rubbed his soar face. "Ah!" he turned swiftly and saw Hinata lying on the branch with swirls in her eyes.

"Naaruutoo…everything's…spinning…" Hinata moaned sleepily.

"Hinata! Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he shook her shoulders lightly.

Hinata came to and saw Naruto right above her. Like clockwork she immediately shrieked and pushed him away in surprise.

"Ouch," Naruto groaned as he sat up. Before standing up and shouting at Anko. "Anko! What's the big deal! We coulda died!"

"But ya didn't, and that's what matters."

Naruto looked at her with twitching eyebrows.

Anko then jumped down to the same branch as them and pointed to a nearby spot. "Alright you two, here we are."

Naruto and Hinata turned around and saw a clearing just below them that was almost completely devoid of animals.

Seeing the brightly lit area of the forest the three jumped down so Anko could begin explaining how to train in the new surroundings.

* * *

**And that's a wrap. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Make sure to tell me what you thought about it and any other ideas in a review, or a PM if you have questions since I'll answer anything in PMs but will only answer things that can be answered without spoilers here.**


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